Git Yer Red Hots Here!!

Curious story in the PG today- Strip District company pleads no contest to selling bad meat

A Strip District company that sold spoiled hot dogs, sausage and bacon to a Washington County discount grocer appeared in federal court yesterday. Thomas Goslin, the owner of American Dispatch Inc., entered a no-contest plea to selling the spoiled meat in September 2005.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Shaun Sweeney, Mr. Goslin contacted the president of Groceries Plus More, a discount grocer in McDonald, on Sept. 28, 2005. He offered the store four pallets of what he called "overage," saying that he needed more space in his cooler, Mr. Sweeney said. The store agreed to buy the products, which were out of date and out of code, for $600.

As I've said before, I seem to spend an exorbitant amount of time in grocery stores, usually my local Iggle. Over time, I have gathered a little bit of knowledge hangin' out there. Here's a little bit of the little bit:

• At the time, Groceries Plus More was small store in a small strip center in the small boro of McDonald. They specialized in selling mostly "salvage" merchandise. Salvage meaning product damaged in shipment, out of date product from larger grocers, discontinued product, etc. This means product selection could change from day to day and week to week. On any given trip there you would find Giant Eagle label next to Shop 'n Save label next to Foodland label etc.
• I would stop in there because, at the time, it was the only place to get Campbells Nacho Cheese Soup in the area (except for Take-Over-the-World Mart). For the record, a can of this soup (microwaved)+chips+sliced jalapenos=a decent plate of nachos in 3 minutes.
• Like all the other cans in the place, you had to be careful to pickup the not-so-dented cans.
• At the same time, there were shelves and shelves of juice in the "dairy" case sometimes 3-4 months out of date.

The 2,814 pounds of meat included 97 cases of Hillshire/Kahns Big Franks, 19 cases of Hebrew National Beef Hot Dogs, 28 cases of Wellshire thick rub pork bacon and three cases of Humbolt pork sausage.

• 2800 lbs of meat for $600!!! What a deal! Who could pass THAT up? Suchadeal!
• From the USDA: Is Dating Required by Federal Law?Except for infant formula and some baby food (see below), product dating is not generally required by Federal regulations.

Mr. Goslin told investigators part of the order had been rejected two years earlier and had been in his cooler since that time. " 'I knew the products were old, but the boxes looked good,' " Mr. Sweeney quoted Mr. Goslin in a written statement. " 'I did not look at the product before I sold it to see if it was fit and wholesome for human consumption, but I know that if I kept a package of hot dogs in my refrigerator for over a year, I would not feed them to my family.'

• Rejected 2 F'ING YEARS earlier??!!
• Guess we know he didn't shop there.

After the owner of Groceries Plus More complained to Mr. Goslin about the spoiled meat -- describing it as discolored and milky -- he refunded the company's money, Mr. Sweeney said.

• Nice to see the owner made what appears to be a seamless transition from Rocket Scientist to grocer. Seriously, Einstein, 2+ year old meat discolored and milky?

"In our 28 years, this is our first ... incident," Mr. Goslin told Judge Cercone. And.. "The company needs to get behind it," Mr. Goslin told the judge, in explaining why he wanted to enter the plea. "There's no defense for this."

• Without getting all Econ 101, let's just say that the area served by that store wasn't any better off then than it is today. It is also served by a struggling Iggle. So I understand the "need".
• All that being said, seems to me stores ought to be held to some sort of standard. At my local Iggle, I've heard people rant, rave, bitch and do everything short of calling the cops when something is 20 minutes out of date.

Too late to prove now, but wonder how many people got sick, back in '05, by stuff that didn't get caught. Where's the actions against the store owner?

I ain't sayin, I'm just sayin.