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Monday, August 22, 2011

Hall of Shame Inductee - Vons

Safeway (which owns Vons) is known for being a dirty chain.  They're also known for not having the freshest food in stock which, for a supermarket, is completely unacceptable.  That's like going to a Lakers game and getting the Clippers instead.  So here's why Vons (this particular one is in La Jolla) is being inducted into the Hall of Shame:

A bag of pizza rolls...

...better if used by January 23, 2011

This was discovered in the store last week.  In August.  To be clear, the Food and Safety Inspection Service states that "A 'Best If Used By (or Before)' date is recommended for best flavor or quality.  It is not a purchase or safety date."

Okay - so that doesn't mean this stuff is expired.  That's good.  But why in the name of Donald Trump's toupee would  anyone want to buy a product whose date of best quality was 7 months ago?  Or better yet - was this thing just sitting in a box in the stock room all this time?  There's no way a bag of pizza rolls was just sitting out there in that aisle for 7 months and no one bought it.  This bag (as well as a bunch of others) were probably sitting in the back for X amount of time before someone decided to move them.  

This is like buying a new car and then you discover it has 5000 miles on it.  Or going to a Van Halen concert and instead getting Daughtry.  Or trying to pass a Willard off as a Wizard.  It's bogus and shameful and ridiculous that no one in the business even seems to care (again, Safeway is known for this).

And no, this wasn't the only product that was past its prime.  There was also this:

Chicken sausage...sure...

Use or freeze by July 29, 2011...purchased in August...

The Food Safety and Inspection Service states: A "Use-By" date is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality.  The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product.  

So again we have Vons selling a product that's not the best quality and I'm sure there's bunches more.  Isn't there some sort of database this company has which records whenever food comes in and lists these dates in the computers so then when these dates are nearing the store will know to reduce the price to get the products out of there so this kind of junk doesn't happen?  Well, if this program I speak of doesn't exist then consider this my copyright on it, because it should exist.  

Seriously, what if Led Zeppelin got back together and you fork over hundreds of dollars for their first concert but then you learn that they replaced Robert Plant with some lame singer like James Blunt or something.  Wouldn't you feel a little deceived?  A little let down?  Why am I paying the same price for food that's not top quality and hasn't been top quality since frickin' January?  

Welcome Vons to the Greg's Gourmet Hall of Shame. 

Oh, and here's a steak I ate last week:

True quality control

Thanks for reading!