A New Supermarket Story

[ProfessorGAC]

CTYankee's post about the guy checking expiration dates made today's event even more relevant.
We had a really warm day for this time of year, so I thought I'd grill porkchops.
Bought them, plus some broccoli & a granny smith apple.
Got home and got a gallon freezer bag to marinate the chops. Collected my spices, a lemon, & white wine, and cut into the vacuum sealed package
Whoa!!! The smell was utterly disgusting. My wife, who in the hallway, said in about 5 seconds, "What is that foul smell?" It only took a few seconds to leave the room!
So, I put it in that freezer bag, get back in the car & went back.
The service counter lady didn't even blink. Just checked the price, refunded me in cash, and called the manager. (The actual head guy was there today. )
He comes to the meat department, told him what was going on and said "I dare you to smell this " He did. He was bit happy. He checks the "sell by" date and it shows the 10th.
He gets the meat department manager, very friendly young woman.
She asks me to grab another one with a later date, then she cut it opened, let me smell it, the repackaged it for me.
Then she says to the boss "I've got to reopen all these and repackage those that are ok; get rid of any bad ones."
Boss agrees then turns to me and says "These are on me. Just tell xxxxxxx at the service counter."
So, I got them replaced & for free.
But, these things were not out of date & I was intending to use them same day. Yet, they were rotten.
Good thing we can so easily smell "rotten".

[debm55]

1. ProfessorGAC Was there a reason that they were rotted. --miss dated, bad batch from butcher. Glad you got it taken care

of . I don;t know if I would buy pork there. again.

[ProfessorGAC]

2. The Replacement Was Fine

However, I won't get pork there without somebody cutting open the vacuum pack for quality control.
To answer your question, I haven't a clue how it could have gone this far bad.
In fact, the looked completely normal in color & texture. That's why I thought nothing of it when I grabbed them the first time.
This is a first for us. We've never bought bad meat of any kind before.

[wnylib]

5. I can guess how it happened. Depends on the store

and its policies and employees to see whether It's like a store that I knew once.

Several years ago, I picked up a part time job for extra income as a cashier at a chain supermarket. The chain's policy was to reward department managers for keeping shrinkage to a minimum. Shrinkage is money lost due to shoplifting or to mistakes made by employees that caused items to be thrown away or reduced in price.

The department managers got bonuses for keeping shrinkage below a certain percent.

A few times I bought meat there that I discovered was going bad when I got home. I returned it and got replacements. An employee in the meat department told me that her manager made them repackage meat with a new date when the date was expired so he would not have to discount it on the last day or throw it out.

The bakery manager did the same thing. I found moldy bread and rolls in their department a few times.

So I did not shop there even though it would have been convenient since I worked there a few hours for a couple days a week.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. Heard from someone who works at a major grocery chain near here ... they repackage eggs ...

When the carton is stamped with a date that has passed and the eggs still haven't sold, they just put them in a new carton with a later date.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. I Can See That Happening

But, we've shopped there for 44 years & this was a first. And, the store management isn't new.
I think this may have been a screw-up at their central meat distribution.

[RainCaster]

6. I suspect it was a second date put on those meats

Why else would they be so quick to open up all the packages?

[ProfessorGAC]

10. Not Willing To Go There

We've been shopping there for 44 years and this is a first.
We know the vacuum packed selections come out of their central distribution hub. The stuff just in trays with stretch wrap is prepared there. This was the former.
I think somebody just messed up at central.

[bucolic_frolic]

3. That's scary.

Implies they were bad when wrapped. Get rid of any bad ones? Like they weren't the same lot?

Some meats seem to be packaged by the big producers, others locally in the store.

Pork you have to worry about trichinosis.

I've had food poisoning. Staph aurea was the worst. Vomit to completion within 2 hours. Cook your foods! Hot!!

[ProfessorGAC]

4. They Have Their Own Packaging...

...and warehousing center. Some of the work is done in that store, the rest at the main center.
It's a regional chain, with around 25 stores.
This wasn't trichinosis related. That's a parasite. Thus was obviously bacterial decomposition. It had a septic odor. Very obvious sulfur undertones.

[aggiesal]

7. Check the vitamin containers as well. ...

I was picking up a bottle of One-A-Day vitamins.
It has about 200 tablets, which is a little over 6 months.
The "Use By" date was in a couple of months.
I notified the manager, and he says, but they're not out of date and refused to remove them from the shelves.
So I asked, "You don't mind selling products where 2/3rd of the contents would be useless?".
He just kept saying "They're not out of date."