A Brooklyn Heights Key Food that has been repeatedly accused of changing the “sell-by” date on meat is off the hook this week after the state revealed that the relabeling practice is completely legal.
The Atlantic Avenue market was under state scrutiny last month after customer Marie Viljoen took pictures of a spoiled D’Artagnan chicken, which appeared to have a new “sell by” date placed over the 11-day-old original. The store has been smacked with some serious food safety violations over the past few months, but the state now says that there’s no problem.
“ ‘Sell by’ dates are nothing but a tool for store managers,” said Jessica Ziehm, spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture and Markets that inspected the Key Food after Viljoen’s claims. “It’s not illegal to re-date or re-package, though they’re still required to sell safe, wholesome products. We went there and found no problems.”
Ziehm said the department followed up on Viljoen’s May 13 claim mainly because her chicken had spoiled — but inspectors couldn’t find any “critical deficiencies” in the store’s practices at that time.
To read the rest of this story please go to: The Brooklyn Paper
