Hearing officer keeps record open as New Britain Halal Market fights WIC disqualification

A hearing officer for the Connecticut Department of Public Health left the record open three weeks on June 24 as New Britain Halal Market appealed a WIC vendor disqualification tied to missing invoices, prolonging a decision that could remove the market from the WIC program.

The hearing officer, Aiden Baumann, said, “I'm gonna close the review today, but I'm keeping the record open for 3 weeks. That'll bring us to, July 15.” The market's attorney, John Wolfson of Feiner Wolfson LLC, said the market will pay the $4,400 monetary claim and asked the hearing officer to consider late submissions the market said would show no waste, fraud, or abuse.

The case concerns a vendor investigation and inventory audit focused on purchases and on‑hand inventory for March 10 through April 10, which the Department said did not support certain WIC redemptions. Kimberly Boulet, food resource and vendor management supervisor for the WIC program at the Department of Public Health, summarized the department's position: “There was a shortfall because we were not provided with the... invoices.” Boulet told the hearing that department staff visited the store, requested original purchase invoices for the specified period, received some documents that were illegible or outside the requested dates, and then issued a disqualification letter.

Attorney Wolfson and the market's owner, Adele Al Sarami, said the missing or incorrect documents resulted from a misunderstanding about the date range requested and from the owner juggling new business activity. Wolfson said the market cooperated and later provided records and that he had “the full, $4,400, penalty to pay, and we will make that payment, momentarily.” Owner Adele Al Sarami told the hearing she feared losing the business and said, “I will lose my business. I will lose, the whole market.”

Department witnesses described the department's procedures and timeline: record exhibits entered at the hearing included the disqualification notice dated May 23, 2025, the request for review submitted May 29, 2025, and a notice of review dated June 4, 2025. Department staff said they ran a redemption report, conducted a geographic access and store‑capacity analysis, and concluded that WIC participants within the three‑quarter‑mile access circle would have another store — identified in the department's exhibits as Burrito Meet America's Food Basket — with capacity to serve the area's participants. Boulet summarized that the WIC vendor agreement signed by the owners on Jan. 2, 2024, requires vendors to retain purchase invoices and accept written communications to the email address provided; email notices not returned as undeliverable are considered received.

Appellate counsel pressed department witnesses about why invoices submitted after the department's action were not reviewed; department staff said those submissions arrived after the agency closed the investigation and issued the disqualification. The Department acknowledged one phone call to request PDF versions of hard‑to‑read images but said its practice is to use written electronic communications as a documented record. Investigators also testified that they performed an on‑site inventory audit and that the inventory audit analysis spreadsheet was prepared by investigator Marangeli Ortiz Santana.

The hearing officer agreed to keep the record open for post‑hearing briefs and extended the submission period to three weeks at the parties' consent. He instructed staff to provide the public video link to parties as soon as it was available and confirmed the record would close on July 15, 2025, after which he will issue a written decision.

No final ruling was announced at the hearing. The contested items remaining in the record include whether invoices provided after the agency's action would have satisfied the March 10–April 10 documentation request and whether the department's procedures and timeline complied with the vendor agreement and federal rules. The department referenced federal regulation 7 CFR §246.18(b)(8) and the WIC vendor agreement as the legal basis for its review; parties were allowed to submit post‑hearing briefs for the record before the hearing officer renders a written decision.