Roundy’s, a Milwaukee-based subsidiary of Cincinnati-based The Kroger Co., paid $1 million in settlements to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) after inspectors found 1,202 alleged overpriced weight discrepancies and 90 alleged package labeling violations, according to a Tuesday DATCP press release.
Roundy’s admits no violations but did settle with $1 million in civil forfeitures, surcharges, and fees.
In December of 2023 and January of 2024, DATCP inspectors alongside municipal weights and measures programs conducted inspections in 81 of 105 stores owned and operated by Roundy’s in Wisconsin, according to the press release.
Roundy’s affiliated stores Metro Market and Pick n’ Save in Appleton, Green Bay, Kenosha, Madison, Milwaukee, Monroe, Oshkosh, Stevens Point, Waukesha, and Wausau were included in the inspections.
Products like precooked meals, salad kits, store-packaged sandwiches, premade cold platters, fruits and vegetables, baked goods, and fish fillets were found to be overpriced by an average of $1.44 per item, with the largest error found to be $7.04.
“Consumers have a right to receive the true value of the products they pay for,” said DATCP secretary Randy Romanski. “The DATCP Bureau of Weights and Measures conducts hundreds of thousands of inspections every year to protect Wisconsin consumers from misleading pricing and labeling, and I am proud that our team’s work in this matter will ensure fair prices and improve future compliance.”
In addition to the net weight violations, just under 600 products were found to have label errors. Several products were allegedly sold with improper signage including labeling a product by count instead of weight and failure to display the net quantity in a prominent location.
From 2018 to 2023, Roundy’s received 63 warning letters from DATCP and paid out over $20,000 in civil forfeitures.
Roundy’s has committed to implementing corrective measures to include new informational signage in production areas, updated standard operating procedure manuals, sustained associate training, and randomly conducted internal weight checks and label placement inspections, the DATCP press release said.
Roundy’s was not immediately available for comment.
