Expired food at Farmer Al's Hamilton Mountain

[CrazyQT]

Today was such a beautiful day, hubby and I decided to go to the SPCA to see if we could find a companion for our cat. No luck

After that we decided to head to Farmer Al's to pick up a few things. I was craving popcorn so while hubby was perusing the fresh meat I made my way to the popcorn.

There were several types and I ALWAYS make it a habit to check expiry dates on items. Over the years I've encountered several expired items on the shelves. I understand this happens everywhere and usually I just bring it to the attention of a clerk and choose one that is not expired.

Today, however, was a different story. I picked up a box and checked the expiry date. July 20, 2010. Wow that's 3 months past due. I put it aside and picked up another. September 12, 2010. Crap, another one put aside. Picked up another and my mouth dropped. AUGUST 10 2007. That is 3 years past date. GROSS!

A clerk was passing by as I was checking dates and I said to her. "Excuse me this popcorn expired in 2007" She looked and said "Oh no" and took it from me and walked away. I decided at that point I wasn't buying popcorn from there. At this point hubby walked back to where I was and I told him what I found. He started looking and found more from 2008 as well as 2010 all expired. GROSS!!

The girl comes back and says "I just gave it to her upstairs. She is going to look into it. I think we got an old batch recently, we've put out new popcorn in the last 3 years." Hubby says to her. "These expired in 2008 and these 8 expired in July 2010"

The clerk says "The July 2010 is understandable but no way is the 2007 our fault." Say what? Who's fault does she think it is? They should be rotating stock and checking for expires on a monthly basis.

I won't shop there again but I will stop in, in a few weeks and you betcha I will check those popcorn boxes. If any of them are still on the shelf I will contact the Public Health Department.

If you happen to shop in that store. BEWARE!!!

What prompted me to look is because I saw on the shelves in the HBA section, bottles of Inner Science Shampoo. .I used to use that about 4 years ago and haven't seen it in as long. I thought they discontinued it. Hubby said I bet if we looked we could find some canned goods that have been on the shelf since 1970s. HAHA After finding the 3 yr old popcorn I wouldn't 'be surprised.

edit** I just looked at the Inner Science website and found this "Inner Science has experienced a long and prolific career and will no longer be available as of July 2006"

Just goes to show you how long their products sit around.

[rain4ever]

I have just discovered Farmer Als. The items on the shelves might not be fresh but thier meat sure is!

[jackmason]

If the things on their shelves are not fresh then how can we expect that they will be giving us fresh meat.

[Old Shoe]

I'm very surprised indeed by your alleged find. It seems that this market not only keeps three year old popcorn shelved, but also ignores the minimum requirements of Canada's health codes. It would seem to me that, if such irresponsible management were in practice at this market. Without a doubt something would have been noted in daily news. Or perhaps this website would be filled with stories of this sort about this market. At the very least the market would have been served with an order to comply with health codes.

Since none of the above have come to reality, I would assume the popcorn in question may well have been a one time incident. If in fact the popcorn was three years outdated? your claim would carry more validity if you had snapped a photo of the offending snack and "best before" date.

Its not at all that I imagine your alleged find a fallacy, its only that if one writes publicly damaging accusations. They should also provide us the reader some sort of proof. Otherwise, we could all go around willy nilly saying anything we please about any market. Perhaps damaging the very reputation they may have worked hard to achieve.

With respect to yourself the writer, do you have any proof of said offending popcorn snack?

Please remember fellow shoppers, its good practice to back up your observations with proof. That way we can be warned of real harm or sickness befalling us from any market. Otherwise any random complaint or observation without proof may seem bias. Worse, some people may take a vindictive unfounded complaint (not referring to this particular thread) as gospel. This may cause reputable harm to an otherwise trusted family market.

Fair Play all

Cheers

[CrazyQT]

Um, no I didn't take photos. The original post I made was over 3 years ago and while I understand you may or may not believe my story I know what I saw and because of that I have avoided that location since then.

[anastasia1009]

Um, no I didn't take photos. The original post I made was over 3 years ago and while I understand you may or may not believe my story I know what I saw and because of that I have avoided that location since then.

Its why we avoid it too plus their meat looks so fatty even got some ground beef and steak once and it was horrible. I wouldn't even buy meat there for my cats - I don't like that place either

[mulock]

"Petrified Popcorn" yum. LOL. I don't think even the crows would eat that.