WHITE PLAINS – A total of 21 stores in Westchester County have been found to have sold outdated food and Westchester County’s Department of Consumer Protection has fined them $59,000 in total.

This latest round of 46 store inspections is the third round since they began in late 2007.

“We want to make sure that consumers get their money’s worth when they shop for food – especially in these tough economic times,” said County Executive Andrew Spano. “We’ll continue cracking down on the sale of outdated items. It’s not too much to ask that consumers be able to consistently find fresh, unexpired food on the shelves of their local grocery.”

The stores with the worst results were Pathmark in Port Chester with 271 outdated items and Whole Foods Market in White Plains with 156.

Spano singled out for praise A&P in Armonk and Costco in New Rochelle, the only stores where no outdated items were found in the latest investigation. In addition, twelve other stores had fewer than 10 outdated items.

Of the 46 supermarkets and other food sellers throughout the county inspected, investigators found an average of 35 outdated items per store. That’s a 60 percent reduction from the 88 outdated items per stores that were found in late 2007. However, it’s an increase over the 30 items per store that were found in June 2008.