Supermarkets and bodegas across the city didn’t make the grade this year.
A new report from the city’s Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA) found that of the more than 700 supermarkets and small bodegas across the city that were inspected, 64 percent of stores failed to pass the inspection.
“It was a year-long inspection,” said Abigail Lootens, a DCA spokesperson.
The agency found that supermarkets and bodegas in neighborhoods with high poverty, like in the Bronx, fared worse than other neighborhoods in the city. In Queens, the DCA conducted 258 inspections throughout the borough with only 55 percent of the supermarkets and bodegas in the borough meeting requirements.
“Stores were issued fines depending on their type of violation,” Lootens said.
Lootens said the fines varied depending on how many violations a store received. Some stores were issued fines from $50 to $1,000 for each violation.
Among the top violations were failure to properly price and tax items, inaccurate checkout scanners, improperly weighed food, and lack of scales for customers. “Item pricing was the most common violation,” Lootens said.
According to DCA regulations, all licensed supermarkets and bodegas must have a stamp or a label on items, except tobacco, milk, jarred baby food, tobacco, bulk-food sales, vending machine products, display items at the end of the aisle, eggs, fresh produce, items on sale for seven days or less, snack foods, and some frozen foods.
“If an inspector goes back again and the stores still haven’t corrected the situation the fine is greater,” Lootens said.
For more information, call 3-1-1 or visit DCA online at www.nyc.gov/consumers.
