HOW I SEE IT: When grocery shopping, buyer beware
Published: February 11, 2010
Updated: February 12, 2010
I feel compelled to write this letter to warn fellow grocery shoppers that they should always check the “sell- by” dates on meats. Last week while shopping in one of Warrenton’s newest chain grocery stores, I purchased fryer chicken with the original tag covered by a new one.
The sell-by date had been changed to four days past the original date. Coincidentially (or not), the new date was good until that week’s current sale was over. The double tag was revealed only when I defrosted the chicken. I was quite upset and called the store manager.
I know of another lady who also purchased these sale chickens. Her chicken was spoiled and she returned it. She was not aware of the sell-by date change. I have no idea how many other people used their hard-earned money and bought these chickens, but I am sure there were many, as the case was full of these chickens for 49 cents per pound.
In this same shopping trip, I took four reduced candle products to the register. They rang up at full price. I asked for the manager on duty and she went back to confirm the price reduction. There were only two registers open, and this delay caused at least two others to leave the line. It was my insistance that I be sold these candles at the shelf tag price, which caused her to tell the cashier to ring them at the reduced price.
Customers are the life blood of these businesses and should always be treated with respect and prompt curteousy. We should not have to insist that when a register differs from the shelf tag that we want the lesser price. I won’t be going back to the new, high-end chain, even if it does call itself our neighborhood grocery store, with its great expanse of shelves all beautiffuly stocked.
I won’t spend my money in a store where I can’t feel confident that the sell-by dates are actually correct. If we all stand up and politely request that we get what is advertised and pay the correct price, we can make a difference.
A couple of months back, I went to this same store to buy some of the advertised “wild caught” fish on sale. The price was correct, but the fish were farm-raised. I inquired about this and was told they would get some “wild caught” fish out of the freezer for me. They did bring me some fish, but who really knows if they were indeed “wild-caught.”
We would all do well to remember “buyer beware” and carefully compare shelf tags with the register. And, more importantly, check for altered or expired sell-by dates on our meat purchases.
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Reader Reactions
Localfarms - I understand why the local farms have higher prices. And I’m willing to pay a higher price (to a point) for the local meats. But I find it hard to swallow a price tag of 12.00 - 13.00 for sausage. I tried it once, and I found nothing special about it. It was sausage. Yes, it was good, but I can get the same quality (taste, texture, fat content, meat content, etc) at other local farms, for significantly less. I’ve visited the farms, and they are all well run. I will say that one of the farms seemed like it was geared more for getting to the Northern VA crowd. I’ll take the more down to earth farmers, who care more about the local folks, than the farms that hike up the prices to make the city folk think they are getting something extra special. I get something extra special for a lot less money. I am willing to pay more, but I don’t want to be gouged.
Don’t get me wrong - there are a lot of great farms here in Culpeper. I encourage everyone to support whichever of those local farms suit your fancy.
Really, Vegan? LOL BS
Go vegan & you wouldn’t have to worry about such things!
I know all that Mr. Thesaurus…I was merely using those things as examples. didn’t require a lecture.
Rogersk- E-coli is not contracted through spoiled food. You can get e-coli through peak of freshness fresh fruit and vegetables or even water that has come in contact with fecal matter. The big health problem with poultry is Campylobacter which is also associated with fecal matter. Those diseases are a lot more of a problem than food sold past the expiration date.
But there are a number of different designations. There is “sell by”, “use by”, “best if used by”, “born on” (for beer).
But most of these designations are voluntary. The only items required by federal law to be labeled for expiration are infant formula and some baby foods; some states also mandate pulling dairy from store shelves on the expiration date.
We could use some better regulation about this kind of thing but that would require more involvement from the big bad government.
I check dates on EVERY food I buy. It takes a little extra time but having had ptomaine once I never want it again or e-coli, salmonella, or any of the countless diseases contracted through spoiled food. It’s worth the extra time and shame on merchants who deliberately deceive their customers foto increase their profit margin.
How awful. When I was shopping today, I did check the expiration tags. Thank you for a timely reminder.
For anyone who bought a rotten chicken, JHarding wants one. You would feed your kids rotten chicken?
There are starving people in this world, just be glad with you chicken and eat it.
Prices will be higher at local farms than at the stores because they are not producing large volumes like the big factory farms. Sure, prices will be cheaper if you cram hundreds of thousands of chickens in buildings. But then you are going to be eating a chicken that was not able to move, did not see the sun and was fed antibiotics. It takes a lot of labor to raise animals the natural way. Can you imagine what these farmers had to go through with all of this snow?
I buy reduced meats from FL and freeze the meats and I have never had a problem.
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