A vile woman purposely coughed all over a grocery store's fresh produce, resulting in a huge waste of food and rotten day for its employees ... and the authorities are pursuing charges.

According to the co-owner of Gerrity's Supermarkets, Joe Fasula ... the woman -- who he calls a "chronic problem in the community" -- entered the store in Hanover Township, Pennsylvania Wednesday afternoon and began hacking on all the fruit and veggies ... along with a small section of the bakery and meat case.

Fasula believes the woman did this as a "very twisted prank" amid the coronavirus pandemic, but she left the store no choice but to throw out all the food she came in contact with ... for obvious health and safety reasons.

The owner believed the lady's sick stunt cost the store about $35,000 worth of product, not to mention forcing workers to clean and disinfect everything along with the health inspector ... and possible COVID-19 exposure to customers and at least 15 employees.

Fasula says the silver lining is the Gerrity's team was able to remove the terrible prankster quickly and contacted police. He says the case is with the District Attorney's Office ... and it's pursuing "numerous charges."

Federal law enforcement recently announced it's considering terrorism charges for anyone purposely spreading COVID-19 ... it's unclear if this disgusting woman has coronavirus, though.