A supermarket in Pennsylvania was forced to throw away $35,000 worth of food after a woman deliberately coughed over it in a twisted coronavirus prank.

Gerrity's Supermarket in Luzerne County said the woman coughed over the store's fresh produce, as well as a section of their bakery, meat case and other groceries, meaning employees had no choice but to throw everything out and clean the shelves.

The prank comes at a time where shoppers are concerned about dwindling store supplies as people stock up on groceries amid the COVID-19 health crisis.

A supermarket in Pennsylvania was forced to throw away $35,000 worth of food after a woman deliberately coughed over it in a twisted coronavirus prank

Gerrity's Supermarket in Luzerne County said the woman coughed over the store's fresh produce, as well as a section of their bakery, meat case and other groceries on Wednesday afternoon

The woman entered the store at around 2.20pm on Wednesday afternoon before carrying out the apparent prank. Once the supermarket workers noticed what the woman was doing, they quickly escorted her out of the store and contacted the police.

The supermarket co-owner said he had 'little doubt' that the woman was doing it as a 'very twisted prank' but decided to throw out the affected food and disinfect the shelves over concerns for the health of the other customers.

'While there is little doubt this woman was doing it as a￼ very twisted prank, we will not take any chances with the health and well-being of our customers,' co-owner Joe Fasula said.

'We ￼had no choice but to throw out all product she came in contact with. Working closely with the Hanover Township health inspector, we identified every area that she was in, we disposed of the product and thoroughly cleaned and disinfected everything.'

The supermarket co-owner said he had 'little doubt' that the woman was doing it as a 'very twisted prank' but decided to throw out the affected food and disinfect the shelves over concerns for the health of the other customers

Supermarket employees disinfect the shelves after a woman coughed over them in an apparent coronavirus prank on Wednesday

According to Mr Fasula, the woman is known by police to be a 'chronic problem' to the community.

The incident has since been passed to the District Attorney's Office, who are planning to lay charges against the woman in question.

Police will also test her for coronavirus, although Mr Fasula does not believe she has the disease.

'The only silver lining to this travesty is that it gave us the unfortunate opportunity to test our protocols and demonstrate how seriously we take your safety. At one point, we had over 15 employees involved in the disposal and clean up,' the supermarket owner added.

It is not the first time supermarkets have been troubled by sick coronavirus pranksters. A Missouri man was filmed licking bottles on a grocery store shelf earlier this week.

The revolting clip saw the man saying, 'who's scared of coronavirus?', before running his tongue along the shelf.

A Missouri man was filmed licking bottles on a grocery store shelf earlier this week

A subway passenger was arrested in Belgium for appearing to lick or suck his fingers before wiping them on a train's handrail

In the short clip posted online, he can be seen bending down to lick the toiletry items on the shelf while looking at the camera.

Alongside the footage, the caption states: 'I'm a nasty motherf****r'.

A subway passenger was arrested in Belgium for appearing to lick or suck his fingers before wiping them on a train's handrail.

The unidentified man, who appears intoxicated, was filmed removing his mask before bringing his hand to his mouth and licking it.