LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is taking enforcement action against grocery retailer Chedraui USA, who operate two major grocery store chains, for selling unregistered and potentially dangerous disinfectant products.
El Super and Smart & Final stores sold unregistered cleaning products in Arizona, California and Nevada, according to the EPA. Some of the products contained toxic chemicals that required danger labels but were sold without proper warnings or registration.
The EPA says Chedraui will pay $472,369 in penalties and must remove the products from their stores.
“Unregistered disinfectants can not only be ineffective, but can contain dangerous ingredients,” said Amy Miller, EPA Pacific Southwest Region Enforcement and Compliance Assurance Division director. “Companies have a responsibility to protect their customers from illegal, potentially harmful disinfectant products, and can do so by making sure they are registered with EPA.”
The agency's action highlights ongoing concerns about the safety and regulation of cleaning products sold in retail stores, particularly store-branded items that may not meet federal safety standards.
The EPA said their inspections at an El Super store in Santa Anna, California, found two pesticide products — S&C Sanitizer and S&C Disinfectant — containing quaternary ammonia, a high toxicity product that requires a danger label. Inspectors say another product, Prinex Sanysol, had "unverified statements about their effectiveness." The products were distributed on at least 61 occasions, the agency said.
At a Smart & Final store in Hayward, California, EPA inspectors said the Perfect Professional Advanced Multi-Surface Sanitizer product also had "unverified statements" related to killing germs. The agency said this product was distributed at least 53 times.
The EPA said Chedraui and Smart & Final are no longer distributing or selling these products.
