The Oregon Company That Supplies Frozen Fruit For Aldi And Trader Joe's

On the rural outskirts of Gresham, Oregon, a suburb of Portland, sits a facility that processes frozen fruit for grocery stores across much of the country. Situated in one of the best berry-growing regions in the U.S., the Willamette Valley, is Scenic Fruit. You may not have heard of the company's name, but you have probably had its frozen berries in a smoothie, mixed in with yogurt, or in a pie.

Most of the top store-brand labels don't disclose their sources. Every now and then, however, often through recalls of tainted foods, a source is revealed. Through an FDA release in 2023, we learned that Scenic Fruit supplied frozen strawberries to Costco and Aldi, and a frozen organic tropical blend to Trader Joe's. Another FDA release about a recall in 2019 clued us into who supplies Costco with its frozen blueberries. 

It should be noted that the 2023 recall was over the potential of Hepatitis A getting into the fruit — none of the product was found to actually be tainted. Additionally, the 2019 recall involved foreign materials, and no injuries were reported. The company has had several recalls since 2013 for various reasons, all voluntary. The nature of the recalls suggests a similar reason to Trader Joe's recalls: an abundance of caution.

Currently owned by Maridean Eisele, granddaughter of founder Leonard Lauderback, Scenic Fruit is a family-run business. The company started as a cannery working with just local farmers, but now it works with farmers around the world, such as the growers behind the tropical fruits that don't grow in the Pacific Northwest.

Maridean Eisele met her now husband, Hugh Eisele, current chairman of the board for Scenic Fruit, while working the scale as a teenager. Their sons, Derek, Grant, and Dan, have all spent time working the production lines, where workers sort through and pick out the best berries for freezing. (The best blueberries may be different than you think!) Derek is now president of Scenic Fruit, bringing the fourth generation of the family into running the business. Across the street is an office for Eisele Farms, owned by the Eisele family and where Grant now works as a manager, growing and selling berries to local markets and restaurants.