Grocery Store Just Can't Stop Selling Expired Yogurt
Esther doesn't want much. She just wants to buy some yogurt that hasn't expired. It seems that's too much to ask of her local Safeway near Baltimore.
When she contacted Consumerist a few weeks ago, I urged her to get in touch with local news media and perhaps some Safeway executives. She did, resulting in government inspections and a Baltimore Sun story. So how did things turn out? Is Safeway taking it very seriously?
Um, no. Esther wrote to us last night:
We'll see how long it takes...on Monday I stopped in and the inspector was back at the store...and EVERY yogurt I saw was expired. Obviously the first warning didn't affect them lol..I miss eating yogurt:)
Keep fighting the good fight.
Carney Safeway selling expired dairy products: Naughty Business of the Week [Baltimore Sun]
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Eh, you live in Bawlmore just throw some Old Bay on it and wash it down with a Natty Boh, you'll be fine.
I bought some cream cheese from one of those "ghetto" convenience stores. I got it home (right across the street) and noticed it was bad. Completely brown putrid crap. I took it back to exchange it. She put it back in the cooler, grabbed a "new" one, and gave it to me. Let me emphasize: She put the rotten one back in the refrigerator!
I live in northern Baltimore County and grew up with nothing but a Safeway for 20 miles. I found out from a friend who worked there later that it had the highest prices in the entire state of MD (which considering cost of living in DC suburbs, is astounding). Thankfully two other stores, including a fantastic Wegman's, have opened up since.
If it is any consolation, as long as it stays cold yogurt is still good for at least a week after the expiration date.
My local market always has a sale on yogurt when it is within a day or two of hitting the expiration date. I usually stock up on the stuff and have eaten it well after the expiration date. You can also freeze it for up to 2 months.
I doubt I'd buy it if they were selling expired stock at full price, but for a discount I'll deal with it. Old yogurt hasn't killed me yet.
We make fun of companies which take problems seriously. But I'm annoyed by what a company spokesman said in the article linked above:
Safeway would take steps to fix the problem
Why would you take steps to fix the problem, when you could simply fix the problem? To me, saying you're "taking steps to fix a problem" is another way of saying you're not fixing the problem.
Because when the problem reoccurs, as it did here, you have an out. A spokesman can follow up by saying, "We've taken steps, but those steps have not been fully implemented."
On the other hand, if you say you've fixed the problem, and you're caught doing it again. You're screwed because it's quite clear you lied about fixing the problem in the first place.
So "taking steps" is nothing more than meaningless corporate double-speak. When a spokesperson says the company is "taking steps" we can rest assured that nothing is being done.
I have said it in the past, and I will say it again. Expiration dates are not enforceable. You can call the Health Department all you want, but selling a product past it's expiration date doesn't violate the health code in any jurisdiction that I am aware of. They are provided by the manufacture for consumer convenience. In fact, there is no requirement that an expiration date be included on any dairy product (per the US PMO (Pasteurized Milk Ordnance)). While the consumer may want a fresh product, the Public Health System's duty is to ensure product safety. An expired or sour milk product is not usually unsafe, just unpalatable. In other words, we don't do quality, just safety. I am a Health Inspector BTW.
@Bluth_Cornballer: But it's very likely the live/active culture count in your expired yogurt has dropped significantly, so at that point you are paying only for flavor.
Contact the local department of health, (for Baltimore: [www.baltimorehealth.org]).
If there has already been an inspection, and there are repeat violations, the store may have their license suspended and shut down till problems corrected.
@Bluth_Cornballer: Absolutely. Yogurt is basically rotten milk already, so as long as it's sealed it can last past the expiration date. I've eaten vanilla yogurt over a month past the expiration with no problems.
That said, it's one thing for me to keep yogurt in my fridge for a month. It's another thing for the supermarket to try to sell yogurt that's already expired. Disgusting.
@GMFish: Well, if there's a problem in their supply-chain processes, it could actually take a couple of weeks (or worse) to "fix" the problem for real.
But yes, this is corporate double speak. Even when the problem actually is fixed, they will still only say they've taken "steps" so that they aren't liable for lying if a similar problem happens with some other product.
This seems to be a problem with Safeway. I regularly shop at Vons, which is owned by Safeway, and I regularly see expired or nearly-expired dairy items. I check the date of *every* dairy product I put in my cart. It's become a force of habit, like checking the expiration date of everything I buy at CVS.
The worst store in my neighborhood is Albertsons. They only have front-stocking dairy cases so instead of the oldest stuff being pushed forward as new stock is put behind it, the old stuff gets pushed back. I once found a gallon of milk that had been expired for two months. Eww.
That's the brand of yogurt I'm eating right now! From a Costco in MD. Not expired, though I actually didn't check when I got it. And I thought I was being a pretty vigilant shopper.... but there's a lot to keep track of when you're buying food.
I see this all the time in the Wal-Mart Supercenter by my house as well as some of the local Giant supermarkets.
@Bluth_Cornballer: Fuck that, if I'm paying, I want a fresh product. How'd you like to buy a new car with 10,000 miles on it? It probably won't kill you or cause you significantly more trouble.
Meh. Take it from an old grocery manager, this is an incredibly common problem. I would imagine that this Safeway is:
1. Understaffed
2. Staffed by part-timers/kids/bored people/unattentive & uncaring management
3. In a general state of disrepair
4. Overpriced
5. One of the most profitable stores in the Baltimore area
Sad to say, but true. Expired product is a classic case of "When absolutely no one cares except the District Manager Who Needs To Make His Numbers No Matter What."
That said, rotation of stock is easy (pull everything off, put in new, put old back in front of new) and not that time-consuming. It is also the bane of every stocker I have ever known. RRRRR...
Reminds me of those old high school days working at a small grocery store of a national chain in NJ. This was just prior to upc scanners in our store, so we still had the price label guns that produced paper price stickers on to the goods from a roll of sticker in the gun.
One night while restocking the cheese refigerator case, I found a way expired shrink wrapped cheese round inside the case behind a metal spacing plate that allowed cool air to circulate behind and over the product. The cheese was about three or four years old based on the expiration date.
I have it to my psycho college age coworker to put in the back refigerator for credit. Instead he took it and looked at it. He said "How much do you think this would cost?" Me: "Dunno- it looks high class- maybe $2.39." He proceeded set his label gun, produce a $2.39 price sticker to the back of his hand, peel it off intact from his hand, deftly apply it directly over the complete stamped expiration date on the label of the cheese round, and then place the round into an empty place on the cheese shelf. He then says to me "We are not f-ing around with trying to get credit on that."
I could only walk away.
@takes_so_little: I keep hearing about this "Wegmans".. I really want one to open up near me but I don't see it happening... No love for Texas I guess.
I see this all the time at my Weis (in northern Maryland). It is seriously a 50/50 chance whenever I pick up a yogurt. I've been burned a few times. I once pulled out 12 yogurts that were a month past their sell by date. I set them all neatly on the floor to prevent others from accidentally grabbing one.
@Vanilla5: Me too, since there's apparently some law that says you have to put Old Bay on...uh, pretty much everything.
@Kimaroo: It started in Rochester, NY, and has been spreading down the east coast. You might have a long wait.
If you want yogurt so bad, then buy it from a different store. Frankly, I don't see why you would want to keep giving Safeway money after this.
As an aside, Safeway is where all the rich people in my town shop. No one else can afford to.
@Argy: My closest Safeway has decent prices - but it's dark, kind of sticky, understaffed and lacking in more exotic foods. So I don't go. But I'd rather not have to drive to six stores to get a can of chili paste, so I go to Wegmans, which still has decent prices, is bright and cheerful, and I can't go 30 feet without spotting someone in that green apron.
My grandmother got run over by a truck painting (of all things) crosswalks in the parking lot of a safeway in Baltimore county about 10 years ago.
Luckily she recovered fine, and surprisingly, it was a different safeway than this one.
Historically speaking this isn't the first (or I suspect the last) time that Safeway as a corporation will be caught doing things like this. Here in the Sacramento area we used to have Pak 'N Save, but they all went away after a huge scandal involving the repackaging of old meat in the meat department. This among other things is why I refuse to shop at Safeway unless I have no other options.
Here in Texas at H-E-B grocery stores they have a unique policy that helps them keep expired food off the shelf as well as reward customers for the inconvenience.
If you bring an expired food item from their shelves up to the register along with the identical but unexpired item, they will give you the unexpired item for free.
I've actually seen entire families scour the aisles for expired food ending up with an entire basket half full of expired foods and half full of the same yet unexpired foods, and they get to have all of the unexpired foods for free.
what a policy!!!
at that day it just moves from yummy yogurt to personal bacteria farm.
My co-worker bought some potato salad at Vons yesterday (June 16) and I realized that the expiration date was June 1. She immediately took it back for a refund (unfortunately, after eating about 1/4 of it).
@BluePlastic: I should point out that it was sealed when I bought it. It had one of those peel-off foil covers underneath the lid.
Expired yogurt is not really that dangerous unless it's been sitting un-refrigerated. The bacteria in the culture produce lactic acid which protects against the growth of other harmful bacteria or mold.
I would recommend taking advantage of slightly expired food and ask to buy it at discount though. Hooray for double standards...
I hope they take care of that soon... We used to have an issue in SF bay for a few weeks but it was cleared up some time ago.
This is a sign to make your own. It's overpriced in the store.
I live in Michigan and my Walmart carries expired yogurt, jello, and pudding (I didn't know the latter 2 expired in less than a decade, lol).
@runchadrun: I used to have this problem with Dominicks, which is owned by Safeway. Not only were their prices much higher, but stuff would be on its last legs in terms of "sell by" dates.
Thankfully my new neighborhood has several better grocery store options!
I laugh at people who get all up in arms about out of code dairy products on shelves.
People need to realize that these dates are more or less sell by/optimum use markers. If properly stored, you can generally go a few days past the sell by date on many dairy products.
It's not good that these stores aren't rotating and pulling out of code products, but this isn't exactly a crime warranting executive intervention & investigative reporting either.
The individuals working in this dairy department obviously need to learn how to rotate products. But sometimes they just don't care.
I remember the days of working dairy in college. It was a never ending battle with the customers and people who would sub for you on your days off to keep the product rotated.
@takes_so_little: You can't buy a "new" car with 10,000 miles on it. By law, it would be considered a used car at that point and be priced considerably less than a showroom model. So yes, to save some cash I would consider it over purchasing new. Which was precisely the point of my original post.
I realize what I am buying at a a discount. As stated, I would not pay full price for an expired product. I was simply pointing out that yogurt is safe to consume long after the suggested sell by date.
Honestly, be thankful that most of the time you get goods that arent expired. I've been living in Spain for a month and at the supermarket I picked up cookies that were 18 months expired and today alone I got a soda at a restaurant which was 4 months expired and a sandwich with moldy cheese (no it wasn't blue cheese).
Oh my goodness! I had that problem YEARS ago when it first opened LOL! They had just opened and were trying to curry any new customer to gain repeat business. Essentially, in my first trip there, EVERY item in the diary aisle was expired - from milk to yogurt to OJ to pie crusts. I still checked out with non-fridge items, they asked how it was and I answered "It seems like you want do not want any customers to come back. Ever." They apologized, said they had just opened and it was tricky in the beginning and gave me a gift card. I returned to use it a month later, same thing.
Tell Esther to RUN - it will not get better. This was like 7+ years ago maybe. Plus, there are soooo many stores in that area, Safeway being the expensive one. I just stayed loyal to the dirty Giant nearby which was cheap and didnt sell expired things. Wasnt pretty like the new Safeway...but I could at least eat yogurt. (that one is gone now btw).
Go to Mars! Mars is where you want to be! :)
(Mars is the local large store food chain in Carney and other areas)
I stopped shopping at a Smith's in Las Vegas because I reported some expired boxes of Kraft mac and cheese to a manager and five minutes later caught him turning the boxes on the shelf so the dates weren't showing. I told him off, put down my basket, and left the store.
A few months later I found expired boxes of pectin at the Von's down the street. I took one up to the cashier and told her about it. She thanked me and said they'd take care of it. The next week, the boxes were still on the shelf. I put all of them into my cart and went to the customer service desk and asked to see the manager. I told him about the Smith's incident and warned him that if I found these pectin boxes back on the shelf, I'd call the health department.
I'm glad to say he seemed to take it seriously, because the boxes didn't appear back on the shelves. Unfortunately, it took three months for them to restock so I never did get to turn flats of Costco strawberries into jam that year...
I relocated to the same corner of the world (DC -- not Baltimore, but close) about a year ago and have had nothing but wretched experiences with our local Safeway. Giant, Wegman's, Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, Target have better prices and better quality. I almost never buy anything fresh at Safeway anymore because they've sold me rotten fruit or "expires in less than 48 hours" milk more times than I can count.