A Strip District company that sold spoiled hot dogs, sausage and bacon to a Washington County discount grocer appeared in federal court yesterday.

Thomas Goslin, the owner of American Dispatch Inc., entered a no-contest plea to selling the spoiled meat in September 2005.

The company, which faces probation and a fine for the misdemeanor charge, will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone on Sept. 29.

"The company needs to get behind it," Mr. Goslin told the judge, in explaining why he wanted to enter the plea. "There's no defense for this."

The case began after investigators with the federal Department of Agriculture got a tip that the company had delivered spoiled meat.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaun Sweeney, Mr. Goslin contacted the president of Groceries Plus More, a discount grocer in McDonald, on Sept. 28, 2005. He offered the store four pallets of what he called "overage," saying that he needed more space in his cooler, Mr. Sweeney said. The store agreed to buy the products, which were out of date and out of code, for $600.

The 2,814 pounds of meat included 97 cases of Hillshire/Kahns Big Franks, 19 cases of Hebrew National Beef Hot Dogs, 28 cases of Wellshire thick rub pork bacon and three cases of Humbolt pork sausage.

Mr. Goslin told investigators part of the order had been rejected two years earlier and had been in his cooler since that time.

" 'I knew the products were old, but the boxes looked good,' " Mr. Sweeney quoted Mr. Goslin in a written statement. " 'I did not look at the product before I sold it to see if it was fit and wholesome for human consumption, but I know that if I kept a package of hot dogs in my refrigerator for over a year, I would not feed them to my family.' "

After the owner of Groceries Plus More complained to Mr. Goslin about the spoiled meat -- describing it as discolored and milky -- he refunded the company's money, Mr. Sweeney said.

"In our 28 years, this is our first ... incident," Mr. Goslin told Judge Cercone.