Stop & Shop fined $75K for mislabeling, spoiled meat
STOP & SHOP was ordered to pay $ 75,000 in fines and to adopt stricter food security guarantees after an Ocean County survey revealed the erroneous and spoiled officials in several New Jersey stores.
The investigation started after complaints concerning beef and spoiled poultry at Toms River Stop & Shop. Inspectors found products with poorly labeled dates and expired items awaiting display. The probe quickly extended to the five Ocean County stores, discovering systemic problems, including the use of display dates instead of actual packaging dates and expiration dates that have exceeded the recommendations of wholesalers.
In a case, a box wholesale in February was only opened in March, but was labeled as freshly wrapped that day.
“It was a serious violation of consumer trust and confidence,” said Ronald Heinzman, director of consumer affairs at the County of Ocean.
Stop & Shop cooperated with investigators and signed a consent agreement requiring immediate corrective actions in its 46 New Jersey stores. The company must now follow strict labeling guidelines, increase training and monitoring and guarantee compliance with food security standards throughout the state.
The Office of the Attorney General of New Jersey and the Consumer Affairs Division were informed of the conclusions to monitor continuous compliance.
“I congratulate the Consumer Affairs Department of the County of Ocean for their commitment to protect residents,” said Commissioner Robert S. Arace.
Consumers who have concerns about poorly labeled or spoiled products can contact the Consumer Affairs Department of the County Ocean at 732-244-2121.
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