It's frustrating, isn't it Woodie? I've stopped going to one store in particular because the quality and freshness of the products has really gone down.

A couple of weeks ago I was at that store and all the buttermilk they had on the shelf was past the expiration date ... so I asked a person stocking the dairy if they had any fresher. After a big sigh and roll of the eyes, he went in the back and got me a carton with an expiration date that was only a few days away, said that was the best he could do. I don't know if they even took down the buttermilk that was old or not (I haven't been there since) Sheesh!

Cindy

woodie2 - have you checked your refrigerator temperature recently? If it isn't colder than 40°F, that may be why you have milk spoiling. You should also keep the milk in the coldest part of the refrigerator. The door isn't a good place for cold storage.....

-Grainlady

Grainlady, I appreciate your comment but actually I did check the fridge temp a week ago when it first happened. And I do store the milk in the back of the fridge. In these 2 instances, the milk was just purchased the day before and turned really quickly. I will be bringing back the empty carton this afternoon to one store and the empty chicken packaging to the other store.

AWWW, I'm sorry Woodie, that really stinks! I hope the store won't give you any trouble with refunding your money. I am always the one who's trolling through all the milk and other dairy products looking for the latest possible expiration dates. Sometimes I just give up and don't buy it because with things like chocolate milk and coffee cream, we won't use it up for several days at least, and frankly, I don't want to risk it spoiling and me having to throw it away. I can't STAND wasting anything. And Cindy, to think that they leave buttermilk on the shelf with expired dates is really just asking for trouble.

I keep a couple of boxes of the Parmalat shelf stable milk in my pantry, in the event we're ever out or dealing with spoiled milk. My boys eat a lot of oatmeal and cereal for breakfast, so I need to ensure that we have good milk around.
DONNA

So funny you mentioned this, Woodie! It has happened to us twice in the last month or so...two different stores (one BJ's) and both times in the plastic jug (I usually buy the cartons). The milk spoiled way before the expiration! We are both in the NE - maybe something in the distribution...? DH says it is better to buy the carton since doesn't get any light but it still shouldn't spoil before its time!

Just in recent weeks - pork chops that I bought that day - got home and opened and the smell almost knocked me out! Two days ago - sour cream with an expiration date for next month (weird?) - it looked like cottage cheese - but didn't smell...eek. There was something else recently - can't think...

Did you just have a massive ground beef recall? Stop and Shop and Shop Rite.

I have an idea of why these things are happening but the CR may not be the appropriate place...

What percent milk? Not that it shouldn't last past the expiration date BUT non-fat milk does go bad really fast. It may be due to incorrect handling by the store; i.e. not keeping it chilled right after delivery before it gets shelved.

I once took back a piece of stinky fish. I bought it to cook that day and when I opened it, eeeewww! It was still within date the following day when I took it back, triple-bagged.

Regarding shredded parmesan, I have noticed that sometimes stores do not put shredded parm in the cold box. I've never had any that was green but I have had some obviously got warm and the oils separated.

I hate opening ice cream to find that it has thawed and refrozen full of crystals.

I hate when that happens! I recently returned some shrimp to Whole Foods. I unwrapped those expensive little suckers and the smell about knocked me over! The manager quickly gave me my money back, but dinner was difficult. I was stuck scrounging for something to make.

Woodie, is it the same grocery for all these? If so, and it were me, I'd be calling the health department and asking them to follow up. The sickest I've ever been in my life was food poisoning from chicken.

The ice cream thing makes me crazy - pay for premium ice cream and get ice crystals big enough to sink the Titanic!

Milk is supposed to be good a day or three past the use by date, but skim and ultra skim never is and will go bad in a heartbeat. (I can't tell you how much ultra skim I've thrown out in the recent years, it's depressing.)

Where I just moved from, we had to watch a certain chain grocer like a hawk on everything (and there weren't many options for groceries in a small town, so it wasn't so easy to just go elsewhere.) I gave up trying to buy bagels since I don't like my bagels three weeks past the sell date or blue and fuzzy (trust me, not noticing mold in the bagel hold and biting into that first thing in the morning is quite an experience!). O

Bean, you moved?

These problems are from the 2 different markets that I shop in regularly. They know me in the office, LOL, I have a voice :)
Today, I went to both to return the milk (spoiled before the sell-by date) to one and the chicken to the other. (Last time it was milk from the other store and no, I do not believe it is my refrigerator, I have checked the temp.) I told each one that I had troubles with the milk, so possibly it was the milk supplier, not their store refrigeration and well, the chicken, I don't know, but I certainly made myself clear that this isn't the first time I've had trouble with refrigeration in their store. They're always nice and apologetic and the refunds come without question, but sheesh - its a PIA.

Jan, it was non-fat milk. But I just bought it yesterday and the expiration day is a couple of days in the future. So its somebody's refrigeration - either the store or the truck.

Donna, Ken doesn't like Parmelat! I've kept it in the pantry in the past, but he won't drink it, thinks it tastes funny. Myself, I use liquid Coffeemate in my coffee and that doesn't ever get bad, LOL, it doesn't ever get good either, haha.

Maggie - I'm Acme and A&P and I just bought some ground beef for lasagna tonight - so I hope its okay!

I hate when that happens, it is so frustrating. I always dig through the whole display to get the freshest product, it drives my husband mad. Since I go to the same stores every week they know me very well, by name! I hate having to deal with this sort of thing, and it is not having to return the item, I know the stores will refund my money, it's trying to figure out what to do when an integral ingredient for the meal is suddenly missing.

By chance was it the same brand of milk? If so, I'd suspect the delivery vehicle. If the stores are close together, they could have the same route driver.

Yes, I'm in Northern Nevada now. Still trying to sell the house back there, but the market isn't cooperating. So we'll just wait for the market to improve and until then DH is using it.

The milk I had was 2%. Woodie - think your okay on the beef.

Just random - every time I get bananas lately they seem to "rot" before they even ripen...

Here is a link that might be useful: Ground Beef Recall

If someone is having a lot of refrigerated food spoil, I'd question not only the refrigerator temperature but also the defrost cycle. Is it going on too often and/or too long and/or at too high a temperature? If the food doesn't smell spoiled but texture is affected (such as that cottage-cheese-textured sour cream), it's possible that the food froze at some point. Where in the refrigerator was it stored? Newer refrigerators seem to have more of a problem with freezing things at the back of the shelves than old ones.

It also astonishes me how long some foods are supposed to hold. Fresh foods spoil even at refrigerator temperature. So when these foods are supposed to last weeks, they are being preserved by some combination of ultra-pasteurization, irradiation, packaging under nitrogen or some other preserving gas, and/or special one-way membranes to prevent bacterial growth, dehydration or whatever. All it takes is a pinhole leak to screw up an expiration date.

Maggie, I've had that problem with bananas from Smiths. (And that store is on my s--- list for produce now anyway.

Also I can add tomatoe and avocados to that list. They looked fine on the outside, got them home and 24 hours later went to make guac and they were moldy/bad on the inside...TWICE in as many weeks. Since I refrigerate neither of those items, I can only assume it was either some major mishandling by the store or the gassing process so many growers use now. Needless to say, I'll be happy when the farmers markets open in the spring.

Woodie, one of our local convenience stores always had milk as a "loss leader" and I always bought it there. Suddenly, every time I bought milk there, it was bad, sometimes I'd open the container and it was bad. Twice I bought milk, opened it in the store and it was sour. I complained, then I stopped buying milk there. The store blamed the supplier, the supplier blamed the refrigeration at the store. Pah.

Now I pay the extra dollar and buy my milk at my local grocery store.

At least your stores gave you a refund but you're right, it's a PIA. Plus, how many people buy that milk or chicken and don't bother to take it back?

I don't have any problems mentioning names and I have to tell you that WalMart is the absolute worst for produce. It's just one more reason to buy local produce and buy it locally.

Annie

Sorry to hear about your problem. Been there, done that. I buy whole milk now, which seems to keep better. And my 23 year old son can get away with the calories. I also like it for cooking better.

I once pointed out to a store manager that he had dairy products that were past their expiration dates. Instead of thanking me for pointing it out, he was nasty and said, 'what do you expect me to do about it?' My mouth hit the floor. I just left my cart there and walked out the store and never went back. Who wants to buy food from a store with an attitude like that.
Clare

Woodie what a major PITA!

It never fails to amaze me how many folk just reach in and grab the product without checking dates. I always crawl into the farthest recess of the cold storage in search of the farthest out "best buy" date.

Must also admit to being the old lady that takes her bread products off the flats as the guy is loading shelves! Maybe it's time for one of those "over 55" communities! LOL

The problem with the avocados is they are importing then from Chili. I first found this out with some I bought at Costco. Nice looking but never did ripen. I ask for my money back and was told they were having a problem. It seems the avocados were frozen during shipment.

At one of my local markets I ask for my money back and the owner ask why. I told him all the avocados I had recently bought were black inside and I was getting tired of throwing them away. He said he doubted that so I told him to go pick any avocado he wanted and cut it open. Well after about the fifth one he gave me my money back.

I only have one market that only sells California avocados. They about twice the price but worth it. I live in Ca. and get so mad that just about everything that is grown here is not available at the markets. Where dose it all go??

After watching the segment they did on fish on GMA the other day we may never eat see food again. I have stopped shopping at Trader Joes because of all the imports from China.

I always check dates and am amazed at the stuff still in the cases that should have been pulled days ago.

Between this and bring overcharged just about every time I go grocery shopping it has become a very stressful chore that I no longer enjoy at all.

Rant over,
Claudia

Claudia, I used to live in the Central Valley and we joked that we were surrounded by melons and tomatoes, but couldn't find a ripe one in the stores to save our lives.
I suspect it all ends up in Arizona and Denver. :)

BTW, TJ's has issued a statement that they are going to stop buying from China, pulling back over the next 12 monhts as they find new suppliers.

Annie, you know well my opinion of Wal-Mart, although I admit I end up shopping there for budget reasons. This Smith's, though? I'd put it right there with Wally World. The produce looks like it's been dragged to market behind a team of mules. If I could, I'd go to Raley's or Scolari's for produce, but they are in the opposite direction from everything else. In the summer, we have two good farmers markets, thank goodness!

Well, I guess there's something to say for not being able to drink much milk -- I've never opened a box of rancid soy milk.

Your comment on avocados is telling. I've had a number of them from Costco that never ripen sufficiently. Today in my local hi-end market they were $2.99 each!!! (Haas). At that price I passed them by. I was stunned!
After the recent CA fires, hundreds of avocado trees were destroyed. Coupled with the late freeze last spring, I think CA avocado prices will continue to go through the roof!

Yes, beanthere, you and I have equally derogatory opinions of WalMart. Mine is because my Aunt works there and they treat her like carp, I hate their employment policies worse than I hate their produce.

Ellen, you make me glad I don't really like avocado. Just think, something very expensive that I can live without, what a concept. (grin)

I will NOT expect guacamole when I come to California! :-) I'm glad that any local produce is available locally, although I have to buy it in season and freeze or can it.

Annie

Years ago I bought a ham and the more it cooked the worst it smelled. I took it to the store and the manager looked at the green meat around the bone, said it was fine and he didn't need to refund my money. I asked him to eat a slice of it in front of me. He gave me my money back.