Two labels, two different expiration dates — was this a culinary cover-up?  

A concerned House cafeteria patron alerted HOH Thursday to what appears to be a not-so-hidden expiration date on one of the cheese and grapes snacks in Longworth cafeteria, though the sticker notes it was prepared in Rayburn. The visible expiration date said Nov. 13, 2015. But in faded letters, just underneath that, was an expiration date of Nov. 11, 2015.  

David Dearborn, the Longworth Cafe manager, wrote in an email Thursday evening that the sticker mishap was due to a label mixup, and did not involve trying to pass expired food as an edible snack.  

“In this instance, a well-intentioned associate preparing the products simply repurposed a labeled lid from previous day’s production, placing a new expiration label on it rather than replacing the lid,” Dearborn wrote in an email to HOH. ” I assure you that food safety and quality assurance are top priorities for Sodexo.”  

He said lids are pre-labeled sometimes to speed up production and the worker tried to reuse a lid from the day before, placing a new sticker on top, instead of throwing it away. Dearborn also said additional training will be provided to workers to ensure the mistake does not happen again.  

“We do have protocols in place to try to prevent such things from occurring,” Dearborn continued, “however management is reviewing its processes and will take corrective action to ensure that this does not occur in the future.”