Where to complain: Food Basic at Yonge and Cummer has lots of expired products

[dazz]

I usually shop at Highland Farms and Metro and those stores are amazing at having the freshest products.
I went to this one, forgot to look at the expiry dates and when I came home found a TON of expired products: Yogurts,ice creams,chicken,milk,baby food,sour cream,juice. A bunch of other product were expiring within 1-2 days(eggs,frozen dinner,pizza,sausages,beef,cream cheese)
It is ridiculous and really dangerous to be selling so many expired products. Especially milk products,as it can give you food poisoning.

Is there a government body where I can file a complaint? I'd love to have that store checked out and fined for this.

[0xffff]

a) It's not ridiculous
b) It's not dangerous
c) It's not illegal (it's illegal to sell spoiled food, but a best-before date stamp is not legally binding and also not indicative of spoilage)
d) What do you expect when you shop at a discount store? The "discount" has to come from somewhere.

[wszeto28]

A lot of stores will heavily discount items prior to their expiry date. Did you get these items at a really cheap price?

[ippon]

i shop there all the time, and i doubt that they do a worse job than other stores.
i've found expired stuff there and elsewhere, like metro, loblaws, no frills, etc, etc.

[NorthYorker]

i shop there all the time, and i doubt that they do a worse job than other stores.I dunno about your experience, but I consider this particular place the dumpiest in the area. No Fills @ Centerpoint is much better, and even Sunny is somewhat better.

That being said, OP is either exaggerating his/her experience or was having particularly unlucky day. Typically, out of whole cart enough to feed a family for a week or two, one or two items might be somewhat close to the Best Before date.

[speedyforme]

I go there all the time, I dont look at all the dates except for items I buy there. It's not a great place and pretty crappy but when things are on sale that I need I go.

[ippon]

I dunno about your experience, but I consider this particular place the dumpiest in the area. No Fills @ Centerpoint is much better, and even Sunny is somewhat better.

That being said, OP is either exaggerating his/her experience or was having particularly unlucky day. Typically, out of whole cart enough to feed a family for a week or two, one or two items might be somewhat close to the Best Before date.

ya, a little dumpy. but they open to midnight though, which makes it very convenient.
i don't know about Sunny being better though. their don mills location is much MUCH better and it's in a questionable neighbourhood. i heard their new markham store is real nice as well.

[NorthYorker]

ya, a little dumpy.Our area is blessed with relatively civilized shopping (one of reasons I love it), so yes, "dumpiest in the hood" is just "a little dumpy". I didn't know they opened until midnight, though. Thought it is now-standard-for-the-TO 10 pm :)

[ippon]

Our area is blessed with relatively civilized shopping (one of reasons I love it), so yes, "dumpiest in the hood" is just "a little dumpy". I didn't know they opened until midnight, though. Thought it is now-standard-for-the-TO 10 pm :)

ya, it's really convenient to pick up milk and stuff there late at night. i think this location is a bit 'dumpier' than other locations because it is small. food basics tend to be a lot bigger than the cummer location. i was never a food basics shopper before i moved here. i always liked shopping at no frills, and had an impression that no frills is cheaper than food basics, but now that i shop at both regularly and equally, i think they are on par, although no frills does have a better selection overall.

[dazz]

I usually shop at Metro(I think). It's just a few blocks south of Finch and open 24/7.
It's just I was driving by...

[dazz]

a) It's not ridiculous
b) It's not dangerous
c) It's not illegal (it's illegal to sell spoiled food, but a best-before date stamp is not legally binding and also not indicative of spoilage)
d) What do you expect when you shop at a discount store? The "discount" has to come from somewhere.

I am happy you like to eat garbage and spoiled food and are ok with it. More savings to your family...

I don't want to feed my kids with garbage and expired food, to save a few bucks. That's f***d up!!!

The only reason I noticed it, is because the next day we were preparing dinner and found sour cream with water at the top... then chicken was a bit slimy and did not have a fresh smell. Then we decided to check the expiry dates and that's what we found.

I rarely see any expired products at big stores.

[cheapgeek]

Call the head office and tell them. Call the city hell inspector and tell him

[jayt90]

I am happy you like to eat garbage and spoiled food and are ok with it. More savings to your family...

I don't want to feed my kids with garbage and expired food, to save a few bucks. That's f***d up!!!

The only reason I noticed it, is because the next day we were preparing dinner and found sour cream with water at the top... then chicken was a bit slimy and did not have a fresh smell. Then we decided to check the expiry dates and that's what we found.

I rarely see any expired products at big stores.You are right to question the chicken, but should have smelled it in the store. Bad fish or chicken will be evident through the packaging.
You are an ***** to assume the best before date indicates automatic garbage and soiled food. Get a grip. Learn how to spot bad food. A little water on sour cream will not make you sick. Ask the company. Try to control your language!

[amz155]

It is ridiculous and really dangerous to be selling so many expired products. Especially milk products,as it can give you food poisoning.

Is there a government body where I can file a complaint? I'd love to have that store checked out and fined for this.

Bad customer service maybe but it isn't dangerous per se to sell things past their best before date. Milk products don't give you food poisoning immediately once the best before date is past. Where did you even get this information?

If you are concerned, bring it to the attention of the store manager. If you complain to the health dept. they'll send someone over there to tell them to remove it from the shelf and to keep an eye on the best before dates more frequently. No big deal.

[amz155]

I am happy you like to eat garbage and spoiled food and are ok with it. More savings to your family...

I don't want to feed my kids with garbage and expired food, to save a few bucks. That's f***d up!!!

The only reason I noticed it, is because the next day we were preparing dinner and found sour cream with water at the top... then chicken was a bit slimy and did not have a fresh smell. Then we decided to check the expiry dates and that's what we found.

I rarely see any expired products at big stores.

The liquid on the top of the sour cream is harmless. The chicken slime are spoiler organisms which you can easily rinse off. The biggest danger is YOU not washing your hands after handling raw chicken or not cooking the chicken to an adequate temperature.

[Techhead]

I rarely see any expired products at big stores.
Sorry to burst you bubble but try shopping at the Sobeys @ Kipling/The Queensway. I purposly take a perm marker with me and clearly mark the products that are out dated so the next customer will not buy it.

They are always open to suggestions.

Your receipt should also have a website for a customer survey, I strongly suggest you fill it out. ;)

Food Basics (http://www.foodbasics.ca/en/contact.html)

Or call 416-239-7171 ask for customer care.

[animestan]

Sorry to burst you bubble but try shopping at the Sobeys @ Kipling/The Queensway. I purposly take a perm marker with me and clearly mark the products that are out dated so the next customer will not buy it.


I seriously hope the rest of you don't do this.
It might not be illegal to sell products after their best-use by date, but I'm pretty sure some of your actions are.

[Techhead]

I seriously hope the rest of you don't do this.
It might not be illegal to sell products after their best-use by date, but I'm pretty sure some of your actions are.

I was caught by one of the district managers once... I explained what I was doing and he promply went and got the meat manager and told him to remove the product.

[animestan]

I was caught by one of the district managers once... I explained what I was doing and he promply went and got the meat manager and told him to remove the product.

Again, I still highly recommend against doing this, regardless if what you're doing is illegal.
If the manager turned you in to the authorities and assuming you broke some law, and you went to a media outlet and explained what you were trying to do, it would have been a terrible PR story for Sobeys.

I think the basis of what you're doing is great, but I'd rather just call the customer care line or email the executives of the respective stores.

[billdozer]

sorry to burst you bubble but try shopping at the sobeys @ kipling/the queensway. I purposly take a perm marker with me and clearly mark the products that are out dated so the next customer will not buy it.



So brave.

[Raggie]

I'm on the OP' side. I would never intentionally purchase expired food or close to the expiry date.
I always make it a habit to check the dates.

[duckdown]

I am gonna side with the OP on this too.

It's unacceptable and with my luck I'd buy it and never notice it's expired until I get all the way home

[animestan]

I usually shop at Highland Farms and Metro and those stores are amazing at having the freshest products.
I went to this one, forgot to look at the expiry dates and when I came home found a TON of expired products: Yogurts,ice creams,chicken,milk,baby food,sour cream,juice.

IIRC, there are some things that you can't sell if they're past the best-used by date, and some sort of baby products were included.
You should definitely take this up the chain, whether it be through the gov. or corporate.

[Toukolou]

Every Metro I've been to (and I've been to several) have always had the worst produce for sale, lots of rotten (and I mean rotten, not just overripe or bruised) fruit and veg. Stopped going there some time ago because of that.

[aeolus811tw]

I'm one of the shoppers that go to this particular food basic from time to time.
I've been to Loblaws, No Frills, Metros, Sunny, RCSS and other chinese supermarket
and this food basic sure isn't as up to par as some other ones i've been to, but OP is definitely exaggerating.

however I don't really recommend buying fruits as I've seen some people open the packages and squeeze some of the content inside on purpose for no reason..(strawberry, blueberry, baby tomato..etc), or some people use their fingernail to scratch the fruits.

[amz155]

however I don't really recommend buying fruits as I've seen some people open the packages and squeeze some of the content inside on purpose for no reason..(strawberry, blueberry, baby tomato..etc), or some people use their fingernail to scratch the fruits.

I'm sure worse happens to some of the fruit when it's handled by migrant farmers.

[Richard1986]

Majority of the time when I purchase a clearance item or something similar the first thing I look @ is the BB date. I think I even do habitually for regular items, but if you did get it at a discount or on clearance you might have wanted to check the BB date prior to purchase. But yeah, somebody said it already about BB dates not constituting spoilage and what not..

[NoFixedAddress]

sorry to burst you bubble but try shopping at the sobeys @ kipling/the queensway. I purposly take a perm marker with me and clearly mark the products that are out dated so the next customer will not buy it.

they are always open to suggestions.

Your receipt should also have a website for a customer survey, i strongly suggest you fill it out. ;)

food basics (http://www.foodbasics.ca/en/contact.html)

or call 416-239-7171 ask for customer care.

love it! :)

[jayt90]

I'm sure worse happens to some of the fruit when it's handled by migrant farmers.

OMG! Would you do 8 hrs plus stoop labor for minimum wage, and stop to sample with the farmer watching?
No. You wouldn't do stoop labor, but you will complain.

[amz155]

OMG! Would you do 8 hrs plus stoop labor for minimum wage, and stop to sample with the farmer watching?
No. You wouldn't do stoop labor, but you will complain.

I'm not really sure wtf you are talking about. My point is, the fruit gets handled by migrant farmers with dirty hands, the fruit may touch manure, the fruit may be touched by birds, insects, wild animals, etc. So having someone touch the fruit in the grocery store before they buy it is no big deal.

[aeolus811tw]

I'm not really sure wtf you are talking about. My point is, the fruit gets handled by migrant farmers with dirty hands, the fruit may touch manure, the fruit may be touched by birds, insects, wild animals, etc. So having someone touch the fruit in the grocery store before they buy it is no big deal.

touching is not a problem, but purposely squeezing (til it pops) and scratching (on apple, pear..etc food that you eat with peels) is another story.

[Simaahoy]

OP, you should be checking best before dates before you leave..http://serve.mysmiley.net/animated/anim_59.gif (http://www.footballerpictures.co.uk)

[moonerhoney]

I am happy you like to eat garbage and spoiled food and are ok with it. More savings to your family...

I don't want to feed my kids with garbage and expired food, to save a few bucks. That's f***d up!!!

The only reason I noticed it, is because the next day we were preparing dinner and found sour cream with water at the top... then chicken was a bit slimy and did not have a fresh smell. Then we decided to check the expiry dates and that's what we found.

I rarely see any expired products at big stores.

Always account for human error at the grocery stores. Just like your kids should account for human error when dad(who doesn't check any labels) comes home with groceries. Always check labels. Even at the best of stores.