Take the Dressing on the Side

By Laura Oppenheimer in Food on Oct 11, 2007 2:55PM

We don't think much of eating food a couple of days past its sell-by date. To us, those little numbers are an approximation, not a hard and fast rule. Glencoe residents Ross Marks and Charles Farinella also followed this logic, but on a much larger scale. They bought 1.6 million bottles of Henri's salad dressing that were about to expire, re-labeled them with a new expiration date, and tried to re-sell them. Not surprisingly, they were caught and indicted on a number of federal charges, including fraud and money laundering, in July 2006.

Farinella was tried and convicted this summer on two counts of wire fraud and one count of violating food labeling laws. Marks was also expected to plead guilty. A federal judge, however, ordered that Marks take a competency test before entering his plea. According to Thomas Breen, Marks' lawyer, "The whole situation has been extremely difficult for him emotionally and physically." Last time we checked, having a difficult time dealing with stress in your life doesn't make you bonkers—it makes you human.

Chicagoist's advice: when in the suburbs, skip the dressing.

Image via Do What Now?