June 13, 2008
Cuomo Blasts Drugstores Selling Expired Drugs, Food
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced an investigation that found Rite Aid and CVS drugstore chains selling expired goods, like medicine, milk, eggs, and baby formula. Cuomo called it a "double whammy for the consumer."
The statewide investigation revealed 142 CVS (60% of the stores visited) and 112 Rite Aid (43% of stores visited) stores in over 41 counties were selling expired products. A CVS near City Hall was selling expired decongestant, while a Rite Aid in the Bronx had a carton of milk 20 days past the expiration date still on the shelf.
Cuomo said, "Families across New York State buy products from these establishments assuming that they’re coming from a safe, reputable source. However, when the products pass their expiration dates, they become ineffective and potentially unsafe, threatening to put our loved ones at risk. These companies allowed personal profit to get ahead of their customers’ health." He has sent letters to CVS and Rite Aid, notifying of his intent to start legal action against them.
Here's a PDF of stores visited and the expired good (baby formula three months past expiration in Nassau County, two years past expiration in Rochester County). Rite Aid told the Post its policy is "not to have outdated products on our shelves" and that the stores were removing the products while CVS said, "We will work aggressively to ensure that our removal procedures are followed consistently in all of our stores."
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Um, why can't we comment on the Steely Dan piece?
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Um. If Cuomo didn't already know this, he never lived in the city. I used to live next to a Gristedes that was literally filled with rotting food. Every so often they'd throw some rotting food out, but the store was still stocked with expired, smelly, dented, bruised, disgusting "food" items. Why is he trying to blame CVS? It's not them, it's the city. The supply chain here sucks.
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Not that stores should be selling expired pharmaceuticals, but it's wrong to say that drugs past their expiration date "become ineffective." That big ibuprofen bottle you have in the medicine cabinet doesn't suddenly go from effective to ineffective overnight. It's fine for years.
And what's up with the expiration dates on water?
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Yeah, save your money and buy a PVC shower curtain.
The chemicals in these never expire!
By The Way, the same CVS's are gouging customers 50 or 60 cents per half gallon of milk in new york this June
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more baloney press conferences from politicians looking for free exposure as they get ready to run for office.
Should stores be selling expired drugs? of course not, there are laws/regulations already in place. So have state inspectors do their jobs, fine the places, etc.
I suppose all this "look at me" stuff by politicians comes with the job, but I wish they could just do their work quietly without all the self-promotion.
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Customers should check the expiration date before buying the product.
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[3] Just what I was thinking. He's being needlessly alarmist even if he is trying to help the consumers. Some milk on that list was two days past expiration. It may taste a little off, but I doubt it will have curdled yet and it's still a ways off from being unsafe. Still, I would have checked the date because I expect anything I buy at full price to be unexpired. I've had potato chips four months after their expiration and it didn't kill me. I wouldn't say the drugs are fine for years after expiration, but certainly a few months of declining effectiveness.
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Even if you have purchased something past its expiration date, most stores will exchange it without a hassle.
Cuomo needs to have his foot shoved up his own ass for all of the crap he's been stepping in lately.
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Cuomo is doing his job. He is serving the public and bringing attention to a problem before someone gets hurt. One day on the news cycle will do more good than hundreds of inspections by "honest and hard-working" inspectors.
If only we had people like him in the NYC Dept of Buildings, some people would still be alive.
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Thanks to Andrew Cuomo, my OxyContin is always fresh and groovy!