Wilbert Ziegler
Chair, District Board of Health
Northern Kentucky Health Department
Dear Mr. Ziegler:
We are writing this letter out of concern about expired
infant formula being sold in
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
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formula that in 1999 it issued a notice to retailers alerting them that out of
date formula could be considered adulterated under the Food, Drug and Cosmetic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urge retailers to remove out of date formulas from their shelves and to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managers and employees take steps to prevent the sale of outdated formula.”[2]
This raises two concerns: 1) that Northern Kentucky
sanitarians do not have a mandate to look for expired baby food, 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 Northern
Kentucky Health Department use the powers it has, and/or seek more powers, to
address retailers’ sale of expired baby food and formula with more rigorous
enforcement and/or by working with retailers to evaluate training and
management practices.
A detailed database, receipts and the cans of expired
formula are available upon request for your inspection.
Sincerely,
Hold the Line
866-935-1448
cc:
Dr. Steven Katkowsky, District
Director of Health, Northern Kentucky Health Department
Dr. William D. Hacker, Commissioner of the Department for
Public Health,
Director, Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women,
Infants and Children (WIC), Division of Adult and Child Health, Department for
Public Health,
[1] See attached table of expired products by store for
the period
[2] 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.