We are writing this letter out of concern about expired infant formula being sold in Hamilton County stores. According to the Ohio Administrative Code 901:3-4-15, expired baby food and formula is embargoed, and are noted on sanitarians’ inspection reports as violations. We request that the Public Health Department take action to address this issue.

As part of an ongoing investigation into the practices of Remke Markets Inc., we noticed that they have had a series of expired products, including infant formula, on their shelves.[1] Remke Markets Inc. owns eight stores, one of which is in Hamilton County.[2] On November 5, 2008, we sent teams of shoppers to all eight Remke Markets in Northern Kentucky and Ohio in order to look for and purchase expired infant formula. At the Deer Park store, they found 45 cans of expired formula, three of which were one year past the Use By date. At four stores in Northern Kentucky our shoppers found a total of 190 cans of formula.

The FDA is so concerned about the sale of expired infant formula that in 1999 it issued a notice to retailers alerting them that out of date formula could be considered adulterated under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and therefore subject to seizure by the FDA. The notice goes on to urge retailers to remove out of date formulas from their shelves and to “critically evaluate training and management practices to ensure that store managers and employees take steps to prevent the sale of outdated formula.”[3]

This raises two concerns: 1) that Hamilton County sanitarians need encouragement and adequate time to look for expired baby food during inspections, and, 2) that the Remke Markets chain has a persistent problem of not adequately rotating products. We have no documented reason to believe that Remke Markets has any more or less expired infant formula than other local retailers. Thus we ask that the Hamilton County Public Health Department address retailers’ sale of expired baby food and formula by means of more rigorous enforcement and/or working with retailers to evaluate training and management practices.

[1] See attached table of expired products by store for the period 1/1/2006 – 9/25/2008.

[2] 4116 Webster Ave, Deer Park, OH, 45236. The last time that expired baby food was cited on an inspection report for the Deer Park, Ohio, store was November 21, 2006.

[3] US FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, Office of Special Nutritionals, December 22, 1999 “Notice to Retailers – Sale of Infant Formula Past the “Use By” Date” http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/inf-ltr2.html retrieved on June 8, 2007.