Opinion ID: 1612232
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 25

Heading: Dr. Joseph Ruocco

Text: Portions of Dr. Joseph Ruocco's deposition were read into evidence on behalf of Roles. Ruocco has a doctorate in microbiology and is a consultant for biological processes, primarily in wastewater treatment. Ruocco was previously employed by the Adolph Coors Brewing Company, where he worked for 2 years developing a system to grow torula yeast from waste beer. Torula yeast is commercially sold as an additive that makes the flavor in food stand out. Coors Brewing Company never commercially tested the yeast system he developed. Ruocco testified that he met with Roles, Shepherd, and Wright in the winter of 1989-90 and told them that torula yeast would be a suitable byproduct for an alcohol plant. He then had a series of approximately six other meetings to discuss the technical requirements of such a system with Shepherd. Ruocco testified that he understood the plant would produce 13 to 16 million gallons of ethanol per year. He testified that he told Shepherd it would be several years before they would produce food-grade torula yeast. Ruocco testified that Shepherd thought the plant could initially produce animal-grade yeast and eventually produce a food-grade product. Ruocco viewed the plant in 1992 and had concerns about the design of the torula yeast system, but he did not voice his concerns at that time. He also testified that he thought the system was adequate to handle the plant's waste.