CVS Slammed for Selling Expired Products

A consumer group held a demonstration Tuesday to make consumers more aware of expired products sold inside North Texas CVS stores.

Cure CVS said baby formula, milk and medicines were among the expired items found on the shelves of CVS stores. 

"This is a safety issue," said Meekaba Dukes-Gibbs, a Cure CVS spokeswoman. "A mother in a hurry could buy that expired formula and give it to her children."

The attorney general in New York filed suit against the company in December 2008 after state investigators found expired items on CVS shelves six months after the city asked the company to clean up its act. California's attorney general also called on the chain to fix the problem after expired items were found at stores last year.

Cure CVS released a report in Dec. 2008 that said expired goods were found in 666 stores across the country, which represents more than 42 percent of the stores surveyed.

CVS acknowledged expired items on its shelves are unacceptable and released a statement insisting the health and safety of its customers are its top priority. The company said the expired items only represent a small fraction of the thousands of items it sells. 

CVS also pointed out that Cure CVS is a spinoff of Change to Win. The group is funded in part by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which is currently involved in labor disputes with CVS.

A CVS executive who did not want to be identified called the demonstration nothing more than a sideshow aimed at disparaging CVS in an effort to gain labor concessions. 

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