July 09, 2008

Westchester County has issued fines totaling more than $85,000 to 33 local food stores for failing to remove expired items from the shelves.

The Department of Consumer Protection acted following recent inspections of 63 food stores. While overall, Westchester stores did better than in a 2007 investigation, the latest check finds the problem still persists.

“Things are better, but not good enough,” said County Executive Andy Spano. “The last time we issued warnings, this time we are issuing fines. Merchants must understand we will enforce the law.”

The stores with the worst results were three Stop & Shops stores: Larchmont (129 outdated items), North White Plains (123 outdated items) and Peekskill (113 outdated items).

Spano singled out for praise the A&P in Goldens Bridge, the only store where no outdated items were found in the current investigation; and the ShopRite group of four stores, none of which were fined because they had very few outdated foods on their shelves and no store with more than 10 items that were four days overdue.

“I compliment these stores for their ongoing efforts to monitor what is on their store shelves,” said Spano. “I know it requires vigilance and constant training of employees.” 
Of the 63 supermarkets and other food sellers throughout the county inspected, investigators found an average of 30 outdated items per store. That’s a 66 percent reduction from the 88 outdated items per store that inspectors found late last year.

Fines were levied on those stores selling 10 or more items that were at least four days outdated. Total fines amounted to $85,425. Stores may ask for a formal hearing if they decide to contest the fine. 

In addition, numerous other stores had fewer than 10 outdated items.

The worst performers in the initial investigation all showed dramatic improvement. The A&P on Rt. 100A in Greenburgh went from 433 outdated items to 6, the A&P in Mamaroneck went from 309 to 12, the Food Emporium in Yorktown went from 255 to 10, and the ShopRite in Bedford Hills went from 247 to 10.

“The results of the follow-up investigation show that, with increased effort and proper management, stores can greatly reduce the amount of outdated food that is on the shelves,” said Gary Brown, director of Consumer Protection.  “We will continue to do inspections to ensure that all stores in the county are removing foods that have passed their expiration date.”

Consumer Tips:

• Always check the “sell by” date on the packaging
• Don’t automatically reach to the back of the display case, assuming that fresher items have been placed there.  In many stores, inspectors found outdated items at the back of the display case, as stores had placed fresh items in the front and simply pushed older items to the back

 Following is a list of supermarkets that were inspected, together with the number of outdated dairy case items that were found and the proposed fine:

* A notice of violation, or warning, was issued to these stores.