Smell

  • Ex-workers confirm date-changing on BC Superstore meat; required to use smell-test; feds say consumers are on their own

    Posted: January 7th, 2011 - 4:15am by Doug Powell

    After an investigation revealed a B.C. grocery store changing the best-before date on fish, former Superstore employees have come forward to claim that it wasn't the first time this happened.

    CTV News reports that former Langley Superstore employee Sylvia Taylor claims that changing best-before dates isn't something new for the grocery chain. She worked in the deli department during the 1990s.

    "Part of our duties, as directed by our manager, was to check our meat packages in the display cases for their best-before dates. If they were expired, we were to pull the meats, open up the packages, smell them, and if they smelled okay, we re-wrapped them and put a new best-before date, extending usually by about five days. When we were told to change the best-before dates, I stopped buying any meat products from the Real Canadian Superstore."

    Jason Paxton claims he had a similar experience when he worked in the seafood department at the Duncan Superstore.

    "Every time the meat was re-packed, the best-before date was changed. The majority of it we could wash off, re-package it and get a couple of more days out of it."

    Paxton says he has since told his friends not to shop at Superstore.

    Ken Randa of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency says there are no laws against changing the best-before dates on packaged food, adding,

    "If they change the best-before date, there may not be anything wrong with it, and maybe no legislative issue with us. Ultimately, they have to answer to you, the consumer.”

    Superstore says employee are not allowed to change best-before dates and are required to sign a policy stating as much when they're hired. The store says they're also required to review and re-sign on a regular basis.

    Uh-huh.
     

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    Wacky and Weird  |  4 Comments
    bc, Cfia, Fish, food safety, label, Meat, re-label, Smell, superstore
  • It was over when she farted - there's a car for that

    Posted: October 21st, 2009 - 11:44am by Doug Powell

    Of the few websites I have in my RSS feeds for entertainment is, It Was Over When, all about how couples didn’t come to be. From yesterday:

    It was over when she farted at the dinner table and kept on eating like nothing happened.

    —WarDog

    Aftermath: It ended the next day after I confronted her about the act. She tried to blame it on my dog.

    The Japanese carmaker Mitsubishi has smelled the glove and introduced a new interior package it calls cocochi, in which the upholstery in the PX-Miev incorporates an anti-allergen coating that Mitsubishi says breaks down offensive odours and volatile organic compounds as well as deactivating allergens such as ticks and pollen.

    And if fighting farts isn't enough, each of the PX-Miev's four seats is air-conditioned to ensure any remaining odours are quickly distributed and dispelled.

    The PX-Miev's obsession with smell doesn't end there. The air-conditioning system pumps out aroma molecules as well as negative-ion and enriched oxygen to reduce fatigue and enhance comfort.

     

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    Wacky and Weird  |  0 Comments
    Carrots, Fart, Mitsubishi, Obama Foodorama, Smell
  • Stick a thermometer in cheap, stinky meat

    Posted: March 30th, 2009 - 4:42pm by Casey Jacob

    The quest for discounted groceries has hit the news again with South Carolina news reporter Larry Collins asking,

    “Stores slash prices about 50% - 60% on meat when it is nearing the date on the packaging. But, is that food safe to eat?”

    According to registered dietitian Charlotte Caperton-Kilburn, such meat is typically safe to consume as long as you cook or freeze it as soon as you bring it home… and it smells okay.

    “If the meat smells even remotely strange it should be returned to the store or thrown away,” Caperton-Kilburn told the news station.

    In Ireland, Darina Allen wrote in an opinion piece for the Irish Examiner that, just the other night, she found a vac-packed duck in the back of her fridge that smelled “good and high.” Rather than throw it out, she “gave it a good wash inside and out and rubbed a bit of salt into the skin and roasted it.”

    Her guests said it was delicious.

    Allen reminisced about life before modern conveniences like electric refrigeration and explained, “We learned from our mothers how to judge with our senses whether food was safe.” She asserted that, “in just a few years, many people have lost the ability to judge for themselves when food is safe to eat.”

    While most groceries sold in the US have a date consumers can read and use, the USDA only requires manufacturers of infant formula and baby food to determine and display a “Use by” date on their products—and this is mainly for the sake of ensuring nutrient quality. The others are voluntary and only describe when the food will probably taste best. Assessing safety is still up to the consumer.

    Modern technologies like stamped dates and color-changing barcodes can help consumers with that assessment, as can the senses of sight and smell. The most reliable safeguard, though, is cooking to a temperature that studies have found will effectively kill pathogens. For poultry, this is 165F.

    Chefs may tell you to use your senses to figure temperature, too, but only by using a tip-sensitive digital thermometer can you know for sure.  It’s the consumer’s choice, as always, but I’d rather be sure than be positive for salmonella.
     

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    Thermometers  |  2 Comments
    Expired, Fat Duck, Meat, Poultry, Smell, Stick It In, Use By Date