NJ Grocery Chain Fined $75K for Selling Spoiled Meat & Poultry

New Jersey Grocery Faces $75K Fine for Spoiled Meat Sales

NJ Grocery Chain Fined $75K for Selling Spoiled Meat & Poultry

Investigators discovered that a grocery store food chain was selling defective goods and mislabeling the freshness dates of meat and chicken. As a result, the company agreed to pay $75,000 and immediately alter its practices, officials announced Monday.

Following an investigation that began due to complaints regarding the sale of spoiled meat and poultry at the Stop & Shop in Toms River, officials from the Ocean County Department of Consumer Affairs announced that a consent agreement has been reached with Stop & Shop supermarkets to pay $75,000 in fines and penalties and to put stronger safeguards in place to ensure accurate product labeling and compliance across all of its 46 New Jersey locations.

According to officials, consumer protection investigators discovered damaged goods that were ready to be put on display as well as incorrectly labeled product dates. According to police, the inquiry was subsequently extended to all five of Ocean County's Stop & Shop locations, where they discovered "systematic mislabeling practices."

"Creating the illusion of freshness considerably beyond the real delivery dates," officials claimed, beef and chicken were stamped with dates that indicated when they were placed on display rather than when they were packaged.

Investigators determined Stop & Shop had shifted away from in-store butchers and was relying primarily on prepackaged products produced by off-site wholesalers, officials said.

There were instances where the meat and poultry had expiration dates stamped on them that were longer than what wholesalers advised.

According to investigators, "in one case, a wholesale box that was delivered in February was not opened until March, yet it was labeled as though it had been freshly wrapped that day."

According to county officials, senior management and corporate counsel at Stop & Shop assisted in the investigation, but they "first described the matter as a "mislabeling issue.'"

Ocean County attorney Laura Comer and the county's director of consumer affairs, Ronald Heinzman, drafted a consent agreement with Stop & Shop that calls for "prompt corrective action to protect customers," according to officials.

According to Ocean County officials, the state Division of Consumer Affairs and the New Jersey Attorney General's Office were also consulted and involved in order to guarantee statewide responsibility.

Heinzman stated, "This was a significant breach of customer trust and confidence." "Consumer Affairs firmly believed that this was an urgent matter pertaining to welfare, health, and public safety."

According to sources, Comer provided legal oversight for the case, which was headed by Consumer Protection Investigators Andrew Chencharik and Anthony Fontana. According to officials, the Ocean County Health Department was also consulted.