Jill Cataldo


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Expired food at Dominick’s: First in a series

By:

Not long ago, one of my blog readers wrote to tell me about some frozen meatballs she purchased at Dominick’s. She made them for her family, but when they sat down and began eating, everyone commented on how terrible they tasted — “like plastic.” They didn’t finish their dinner, and she scoured the bag for an expiration date. Finding none, she called the manufacturer the next day. After reading a production code stamped into the bag, the manufacturer informed her that the meatballs had expired in 2007, and they “absolutely should not have been eaten” past that date.

While there are no laws in Illinois against selling expired food (unless it is baby formula or baby food,) the fact is that expired food at Dominick’s is a rampant problem throughout many of their suburban stores. Nearly every day I read and hear stories of people buying expired products at Dominick’s because they forgot to check the dates. I, and many other Dominick’s shoppers, have been patiently trying to bring this issue to Dominick’s corporate’s attention for over a year. But after this reader shared her story with me, I couldn’t stop thinking what might have happened to her if she or her family had gotten severely sick from eating meat that expired four years ago.

After hearing her story, I suggested she and I go back to her local Dominick’s store (2411 Randall Road, Carpentersville, IL) and see if we could find other expired products on the shelves. The reader’s best friend joined us, as she has also had problems with expired food at the Carpentersville location.

As we met at the store and talked, all three of us shared stories of having accidentally brought home one or two expired products from our local Dominick’s stores more often than seemingly should be the case — but when you’re in a hurry and not taking the time to watch the dates, it seems to happen pretty frequently. What would happen when we actually began looking for expired products?

We intended to walk all of the food aisles and see what we found. We wondered if we’d fill up an entire shopping cart.

Instead, we filled three.

The three of us walked the aisles at the Carpentersville Dominick’s, documenting everything we found. It added up to 425 expired food products in two hours. That works out to more than seven expired products found for every two minutes spent in the store.

Incredible. We knew Dominick’s expired food problem was bad, but this bad?

Please keep in mind that we did not even make it through the whole store, only covering about four aisles. We did not make it to the bread aisle, the pop aisle, the dairy cases, the frozen cases, refrigerated meats or seafood, nor did we look at any drugstore-type products (personal care, medicine, and the like.) We only went through some of the packaged, bottled and canned food aisles.

Yet, we spent two hours in the store and filled three shopping carts with expired food. And some of it was very, very expired:

We carried a copy of the day’s newspaper with us (February 10th, 2011) as proof of the date that these photos were taken. Click the photos to view the full-size, high-res photographs.

Two bottles of Bertolli Olive Oil, dated 2/28/09:

Twenty cartons of Kikkoman Soy milk, with expiration dates ranging from 12/11/10 to 1/29/11:

Fourteen boxes of Hamburger Helper, with dates ranging from 3/31/10 to 9/30/10:

Two bottles of Safeway Olive Oil, dated 8/28/09:

And, the oldest product we found… two cans of Clabber Girl Baking Powder with an expiration date of May, 2008:
(The third can at left expired in November, 2010.)

The three of us were absolutely floored by what we had found. And remember, we only made it through about four aisles of the store. After devoting two hours to this and filling three carts, we were pretty certain that if we each got new carts and continued through the store, we’d find more of the same.

Watch a video with additional expired products found during this trip:

(Update: My ENTIRE YouTube channel was deleted after I posted videos of Dominick’s expired food — I lost all of the videos I created from 2008 until now. I can only suspect the long arm of a certain legal team had my entire SuperCouponing YouTube channel shut down, which is extremely upsetting. YouTube has not responded to my repeated requests to restore my channel.)

Why aren’t stores clearing expired inventory off the shelves, especially when there is so much of it? Why aren’t any store employees walking the aisles to notice that the first jars of applesauce a shopper would pick up, on the front edge of the shelf, expired in August of 2010?

Dominick’s shoppers on Facebook have been extremely vocal about the expired food problem in many locations around Chicagoland, and yet expired foods just sit, stagnating on the shelves. Shoppers on Dominick’s own Facebook page have posted many other Dominick’s locations where one would likely find similar results. I also imagine that many of these manufacturers would be interested to learn how long some of their products have been sitting on Dominick’s shelves. Who is liable if someone gets ill from eating Hormel beef that expired in May of 2009?

Here’s the full list of 425 expired products we found on 2/10/11 at this Dominick’s location. As you look through it, note that this isn’t necessarily a case of “one or two” forgotten products on the back of a shelf. 26 identical bags of rice cakes? 14 boxes of organic children’s pasta? In the case of the Kool-Aid Fun Fizz all 64 packages on the shelf expired in November of 2010. And yes, there’s expired baby food on the list too, which is the only category with federal regulations not to be sold after the date.

Product Date expired Quantity
Clabber Girl Baking Powder 5/1/08 2
Bertolli Olive Oil 2/28/09 2
Hormel Dried Beef 5/7/09 4
Safeway 500ml Olive Oil 8/28/09 2
Amore Anchovy Paste 3/1/10 12
Safeway Ranch Dressing Mix (boxed) 3/10/10 6
Hamburger Helper – Italian Sausage 3/31/10 1
A1 Black Peppercorn Steak Sauce 5/18/10 8
Hamburger Helper – Italian Sausage 5/23/10 2
Hamburger Helper – Italian Sausage 5/31/10 1
Near East Couscous 6/11/10 2
Girard’s Champagne salad dressing 6/25/10 9
Near East Chicken Provencal Gourmet Meal kits 7/5/10 6
Near East Mediterranean Herb Gourmet Meal kits 7/5/10 9
Citrus Champagne salad vinegar 7/9/10 1
Crosse & Blackwell Zesty Remoulade 7/16/10 1
Safeway Gravenstein Applesauce 8/3/10 4
Kern’s Guava Nectar 8/26/10 4
Hamburger Helper – 4 Cheese Lasagna 9/28/10 2
Hamburger Helper – 4 Cheese Lasagna 9/28/10 3
Hamburger Helper – 3 Cheese 9/30/10 5
Safeway Select Pretzels 9/30/10 2
Girard’s Raspberry salad dressing 10/1/10 3
Quaker Quakes rice cakes 10/10/10 26
Quaker Chewy Granola Bars 10/11/10 9
Annie’s Organic Bunny Pasta with Yummy Cheese 10/15/10 14
Betty Crocker cake mixes (on an endcap for current sale) 10/17/10 2
Safeway Select Pretzels 10/28/10 2
Betty Crocker cake mixes (on an endcap for current sale) 10/29/10 1
Clabber Girl Baking Powder 11/1/10 1
Nature’s Path Organic toaster tarts 11/3/10 4
Quaker True Delights 11/15/10 2
O Organics Green and Herbal tea bags 11/17/10 10
Safeway Chocolate Artificially Flavored Milk Mix 30oz. 11/21/10 1
Kool-Aid Fun Fizz tablets 11/30/10 64
Safeway Orange Marmalade 11/30/10 5
Safeway Shelled Walnuts 12/3/10 4
Cary’s Sugar-Free Syrup 12/8/10 1
Michele’s Maple Crème Syrup 12/10/10 5
Safeway Iced Tea Lite 12/10/10 2
Safeway Mint Jelly 12/10/10 5
Safeway Select Extra-Virgin Olive Oil 12/10/10 4
Kikkoman Pearl Soy Milk 12/11/10 8
Safeway Mandarin Oranges 12/11/10 2
Safeway Mandarin Oranges 12/14/10 2
Safeway Select Extra-Virgin Olive Oil 12/17/10 2
Annie’s Organic Canned “Arthur” kids’ pasta 12/18/10 7
Keebler Pepper-Jack Cheese crackers 12/25/10 8
Safeway Select Extra-Virgin Olive Oil 12/26/10 2
Kraft Italian Viniagrette salad dressing 1/4/11 4
Planter’s canned nuts 1/7/11 1
Murray’s Sugar Free Cookies (vanilla) 1/8/11 4
Safeway Lite Butter Microwave Popcorn 1/8/11 1
Blue Diamond Hazelnut Thins 1/10/11 3
Gerber Whole Wheat baby cereal 1/10/11 2
Barnum’s Animal Crackers Snak-Saks 1/11/11 12
Café Gluten-Free bars 1/11/11 27
Eating Right Pomegranate Cranberry and Mango juices 1/11/11 9
Kraft Light Ranch dressing 1/13/11 2
Good Earth tea bags 1/14/11 1
Almond Breeze almond milk 1/15/11 7
Cheerios 1.1oz. Canisters (baby aisle) 1/17/11 7
Ritz Munchables 1/25/11 1
Reduced Fat Ritz Crackers 1/27/11 1
Kikkoman Pearl Soy Milk 1/29/11 12
Safeway Whipped Dressing (mayonnaise) 1/30/11 9
Annie’s Organic Snack Bunnies snack mix 1/31/11 1
Beech-Nut Baby Cereal 2/1/11 2
Gerber Smart Nourish baby food cups (peas, beans) 2/1/11 3
Safeway Shelled Pecans 2/3/11 5
Barilla Tortellini 2/4/11 3
Lance cheese & crackers 2/4/11 2
Girard’s Caesar salad dressing 2/5/11 2
Safeway Bold steak sauce 2/7/11 11
Safeway Olive Oil & Balsamic salad dressing 2/7/11 6
Betty Crocker frosting 2/8/11 1
Safeway Italian Dressing 2/9/11 2
TOTAL: 425

Notes:

Before we went inside, we noted that there are no signs or notices posted anywhere at the Carpentersville Dominick’s location that prohibit photography or videography in the store. I believe, to the best of my ability, that I have documented what we found as truthfully and factually as possible.

In one of the photos, several bottles of VitaminWater are visible near the cart basket. These were not expired and were purchased by one of my readers (yes, we did all buy something during this shopping trip. I purchased some greeting cards and the copy of the Daily Herald seen in these photos.)

Since this trip:

My reader went back to do her grocery shopping on Sunday, 2/13 (yes, she is still shopping at this Dominick’s!) An employee who was in the store when we presented the expired carts on Thursday night came over and apologized for the amount of expired product we had found on the shelves. He told the reader, “They really don’t want this to end up on the blogs.” She told him that she herself did not have a blog, but anyone who reads any local coupon blog, or Dominick’s own Facebook page, already knows how bad the problem is with expired food on the shelves at Dominick’s. The employee then said to her, “You want to see expired? You should go to Lake in the Hills!”

Guess where we headed next. Continue reading Part Two of this story.

Comments

  1. Ok, maybe this is what us consumers get when a store takes expired coupons (or should I say, use to) regularly. I used many expired coupons that were $5 or more …even up to $15….and this is money they were evidently out, which I was not aware at the time. This is maybe how they are trying to stay afloat keeping all product around or reducing employment who should be taking these off shelves. I do not want any consumers getting sick but maybe we need to think of Dominicks side too….how they just need to bring in decent revenue to stay in business. Everyone is so disappointed that they are rejecting our expired coupons…but really, wasn’t this just a courtesy. Should we expect or demand for this free cents/dollars off when company is not getting reimbursed. Think of how many coupons that were expired and add them up. This is what this store was out by just one customer per order. I know my coupons probably added to around $30 or more on one order! What can we expect when we are not paying the store anything.

  2. I don’t know if there is a way to scream bloody murder on a blog but “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH…SICK!” Dry heave, Dry heave…..

    Great job on this article/video. Absolutely shocked as to the sheer volume of product that was expired. Keep up this good work and can’t wait to see the other store you visited.

    Bet they won’t even scramble after this…Take no prisoners, Jill and cohorts!

  3. BTW…That variety of Annie’s Mac and Cheese has been discontinued. I called them a few months back with a question regarding that particular variety.

  4. This was well put together and excellent to read. Kudos to you Jill for taking the time to report it! There has been MANY shopping trips that I have given expired items to stock workers at my local Dominicks when I am shopping. I did not know about the baby food law; good to know since I frequently shop it and usually find a lot of expired baby food on the shelves. NOW maybe Dominicks will listen!?! I cannot wait to read more!

  5. Thank you for being so bold and taking on our safety. I think it’s just awesome. You’re an amazing journalist!

  7. When I worked at Walgreen’s years ago, part of our responsibilities after we closed was to “face” the shelves. That meant moving items to face forward and to straighten everything so that it would look nice for the customers the next morning. Newer items move to the back, so that the older items can be sold first. (Of course, most people know this and instinctively reach for the items in the back!) Dominicks seems to be taking this to the extreme, in that the oldest and expired items are brought to the front and kept there so that unsuspecting customers will buy them and bring them home.

    I’ve found expired BBQ sauce, Pasta Roni, yogurt, drinks, cereal, pasta sauces, granola bars, animal crackers, canned fruit and salad dressing. This often happens when those items are on sale, filling end caps, deliberately put there by staff. Why put expired things on a shelf during a sale? Because most people don’t realize how callous Doms has become with outdated food. They seem disregard our family’s health to maximize their profits.

    Since most Doms close at midnight and presumably do their restocking before they reopen the next morning, why can’t more time be given to look over the dates? Why can’t they hire even ONE more person to go through the aisles on a regular basis to do what Jill and 2 others did? Simply put, time means money, and Doms doesn’t want to use their money on behalf of their customers to ensure they are buying non-expired items. The managers will be spending less of their time processing our expired coupons since, according to corporate, they no longer take them. Their freed up time could PERHAPS be spent checking for expired products, couldn’t it???

    Sorry for the long post. Stepping off my soapbox now…

  8. I can’t tell you how happy I was to see this posted. I wonder how many of us you have spawned into action to do the same thing at their local Doms? Would love to see this go viral or at least picked up by the local news and let them do some investigation… then we can see if Doms will actually respond or not. Hate to have to force their hand but you know, when you don’t respond or fail on promises, I’m done with you. You’ve given them over a year Jill.

    I used to want Doms to stay around – now I don’t care. You never know what would come in its place – at least in the far NW Suburbs we could hope for an Ultra (grin).

  10. I’d like to say unbelievable, but I have to say that I am really not surprised. Does anyone remember Dream Whip? My store still has a few boxes of that stuff for sale and even the price tags on it look vintage!

  11. who accepted your carts. If any other employees saw who this was, you have now revealed that he snitched on another store. Not likely to help him keep his job.

    Why didn’t you present the carts to the manager on duty? I don’t think it’s fair to have presented it to anyone else.

    Thanks for the exposé. Hopefully this will open the eyes of corporate. And hopefully this man won’t lose his job.

  12. That’s the most interesting comment in the whole article! Were they ratting out a local competitor? Or are they so disgruntled that they were ratting out another Dominick’s location that’s even worse?

    I wonder how much of that stuff went back on the shelves after you left?

    This is the Dominick’s closest to me as well! I’ve probably been in there 2-3 times in the past couple years. I drive right past it on my way to Caputo’s, Jewel, Meijer, Target, TJ, Woodmans, and just about any where else I go. About all I buy there is gasoline, with my 3 cent discount.

    Jill, if you need an “assistant” for your next undercover operation, let me know!

    As a famous cartoonist once said when his employer asked him to leave “This is gonna be fun”!

  13. I had found few items in my store, didn’t buy them and told someone from the store who assured, they have a regular “Inventory check” process and it would be removed…but this is so ridiculous… 425 items and still counting!

    Great Job Jill in exposing and making us aware!

  14. It’s refreshing that Dom’s has motivated me (in so many ways) to replace them with Meijer in my shopping routine.

    Thanks, Jill. You know we love you, right?! :)

  15. While certainly there are issues at store level with lack of regard to looking at expiration dates when stocking shelves and displays. Perhaps corporate also needs to look at their warehousing and what they are doing at their own warehouse when new shipments arrive.

    Also, Dominick’s buying “diverted” product has long been a practice by Dominick’s and others. Diverted product is when they purchase product from another source and not directly from the manufacturer for a deeper discount. Besides buying diverted product, Dominick’s also has been known to sell it. Perhaps some of their hot buys from a diverter are close dated or expired product? Their buying system at one time of state of the art – looks like that may no longer be the case and they should evaluate from the top down!

  18. I bought several items around the holidays including Betty Crocker boxed potatoes and Hamburger Helper for donation to the local food bank.

    I was completely and utterly embarrassed when my items were rejected for being expired just days after I purchased them!

  20. I’ve noticed that, overall, same products in Dominick’s have much shorter expiration date, then let’s say in Jewel.
    I think, the reason could be, that Dominick’s purchases products from some discounted suppliers. The closer to the expiration date product is, the cheaper it is. Expired products are, probably, completely free because it’s a garbage.
    The same thing happening in many small ethnical stores throughout Chicago. Sometimes, ethnical stores go to the extend of scratching expired dates but still living products on the shelf.

  22. This is such a great service you’re doing for us, Jill. Seriously, why isn’t at Dominicks thinking??? Another reason to NOT shop at this store. Lisa Madigan and Dateline need to know about this and all the other issues too!!

  24. whether this is a problem among Dominick’s *and* Safeway? Or is Dominick’s enough of it’s own beast that parent Safeway may not know/care about it? I have a friend who knows someone in Safeway’s corporate or something… wonder if it’d be a good idea to pass along a link to this blog to them? Or would it be a waste of time? Does Safeway care enough to reign in/down on their affiliates to control quality? or do you think it’s just more of the same? **just curious

  25. Jill if you need help with going to the LITH store or Crystal Lake, I will go and help you pull all of it of the shelves!!! Great story!!! I was just there returning some cookies I bought!!Dominicks really need to be put in there place or put out of business!! Thank you for all you do Jill & if you need some help let me know :)

  27. because most of the stuff on clearance is expired and if it were store policy to get expired products off the shelves, they could at least remove the items on clearance that were placed there because they were expired.

    It would be great if this could go to the Attorney General at least for the baby food or maybe better the Tribune.

    Thank you for the work!

  28. Hi Jill:
    I knew something had happened at that Doms!! My hubby and I were in there the night of Valentines – it was mobbed w/men buying flowers at the last minute.. (there were actually cars in the parking lot)LOL Anyway, we were returning some flowers he’d bought over the weekend for me that were expensive (i.e. no coupons), and had fallen apart w/dried leaves the night before when I opened the package. First thing I noticed were tons of employees (might’ve been temps) working the aisles??!! They were taking things off the shelves and looking at them… hmmm. Then when I met my hubby at the front w/the store manager – he was someone new! Never seen him before.. so I asked, are you new? He said yes. Was going to make another comment, but reconsidered when I saw him give my husband all his money back for the flowers $25 PLUS a new bouquet for FREEEEE!!! ( my favorite word) Went out of the store thinking I’ve just been through the ‘Twilight Zone’ LOL

  29. Nice detective work to you and the crew! As coponers we all know this has been a problem from JUMP! Done with Doms so I am cool with outting them… I can’t tell you how many times I walk expired product to the front CS desk with my purchases and tell them they are past the sell date. Then I think to myself…. WHY AM I DOING THEIR JOB???

    Anyways….

    Again, Nice work!

    Piggers ;0)

  30. I think we the people should be the moderators on this one, think about it. If we the people make ourselves responsible for this policing of expired products. We win, if dominick’s does something about it, it will only be temporary. Everyone will say yay!, Dominick’s is addressing this! We Win! but that sweet victory will only last until all of the focus and press passes. In fact I think that this applies to us watching our neighborhoods, watching the police, and asking any confident authority for validity. Not to go all political here but I think you know what I mean. We are the people we have power so let’s get this done for the safety of our families and friends. :)

  31. As much as I dislike and am frustrated by dominicks, what they are doing is sneaky, but not against any government regulations (except for the baby food) Below is a link to the USDA food product dating page. This website basically says that if the product has a “best by” date and the date is past it is not necessarily dangerous to consume! much food we consider “expired” is actually not expired… and i must note that most of the foods shown in the video are “best by, or better by” dates NOT EXPIRATION dates. At the bottom of the usda page there is a chart of safe eating dates, one that is quite long that i think are most valuable to know are canned meats which are good for 2-5 years after purchase! Here is a direct copy from the usda page

    https://www.fsis.usda.gov/factsheets/food_product_dating/index.asp

    Types of Dates
    A “Sell-By” date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires.
    A “Best if Used By (or Before)” date is recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
    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.
    “Closed or coded dates” are packing numbers for use by the manufacturer.

    Safety After Date Expires
    Except for “use-by” dates, product dates don’t always refer to home storage and use after purchase. “Use-by” dates usually refer to best quality and are not safety dates. But even if the date expires during home storage, a product should be safe, wholesome and of good quality — if handled properly and kept at 40° F or below. See the accompanying refrigerator charts for storage times of dated products. If product has a “use-by” date, follow that date. If product has a “sell-by” date or no date, cook or freeze the product by the times on the chart.

    I do understand the frustration of consumers and i personally do not want to purchase food not of the best quality, but lets call a spade a spade here. The only way we can change the way companies do business is with our $$$$ which is what they actually care about in the first place. I do appreciate what Jill and her co-shoppers have done in bringing this to light and educating consumers so they can make good choices, but it is OUR choice whether to shop there or not, to check the expiration date or not, to buy the food even though the date has passed or not. We cannot rely on corporations to make those choices for us when the government has not stated that these products are harmful. (and granted, I do know that those products which are OLD…OLD….OLD would be harmful if ingested but not all 400+) but we need to also take up the issue with the USDA and their regulations, cause dominicks isn’t. We need to be our own advocate, take responsibility for our own purchases, use the same care when buying all our products that we would when buying a good quality produce!

    If you don’t like it, just call me the devil’s advocate. I don’t shop at dominicks anymore because of thier coupon issue and frequent jewel and butera because they are at more convenient locations and i like their store layouts better.

  32. It sounds like those meatballs did not have an expiration date on them. I have noticed there are many frozen food products that do not. (They just have that production code.) I remember last year during one of the frozen food catalinas, most of the stuff was sold out, leaving some nasty looking packages way in the back of the freezer section. None of them had expiration dates on them, but I refrained from buying them just because the packages looked so old and nasty.

    Sorry if this is off topic!

  33. Thank you for adding these comments and clarifying what these “terms” mean. Great explanation! Now to see if Dominick’s/Safeway will do anything about it?

  34. Your reader found out that meat really does degrade in texture and quality after being frozen for too long … way too long in this case. But from reading up on this when I last bought my own quarter cow, I seem to remember that frozen meat will never actually go bad and make you sick. After all no microbes are growing in it while it’s in the freezer.

  35. So Gross & Disgusting.

    That is so wrong to have your customers pay for expired food and make a profit off of it.

  36. About 5 years ago, when i lived in Crystal Lake, I had a few bad moments in Dominicks. A fresh pre-made salad had a rather large insect in it. Another time, my husband was treated so poorly during check out. After that I have never step foot in there again. How can a store afford to do this when the competition is plenty!

  37. 425 items out of an inventory of more than 45,000 is less than 1 percent. Do you really feel this excessive? showing three shopping carts of food that’s expired is quite dramatic visually. Why don’t you go and pull all the items that are not expired? Not enough carts perhaps and it doesn’t support your over the top grandstanding. After all who’s responsibility is it to feed their family the freshest foods possible? It’s done with fruits and vegetables as well as meat which oddly enough I don’t see any of.Maybe Because there are no coupons for those items. The manufacturers offer coupons to incentivise the purchase of their product just because you were too lazy to take advantage of the incentive before it expired is your own fault. Why should Dominicks accept your coupons when they wont be reimbursed by the manufacturers? Just because you would like something at anothers expense does not make you a hero or a consumer advocate.It makes you a selfish self centered Liberal megalomaniac who’s only concern is promoting herself over the welfare of others. After all who will be hurt most by your “revelations”? Those who are least capable of making a change; the employees. Management will do fine, maybe people will be moved around to different stores where they will continue the same practices and corporate folks will have their additional meetings and more “sensitivity” training. But when the store is shut down (which I believe is your goal)the employees and their families will be the ones to suffer. Great job ! you must be so proud of yourself. All because you wanted something for nothing. P.S if this was truly about expired product and protecting consumers then why didn’t you go to Woodmans or ANY Caputos which really wouldn’t be so bad since the only ones that would be hurt at Caputos are illegal aliens.

  38. Thank you for this useful information! This was perfect timing, as I also found expired food just yesterday at the Geneva Dominick’s on Randall Road. There were 20+ packages of tortilla wraps that expired in January 2011 still on the shelf. I told the customer service clerk, who did not seem the least bit interested. Please keep sharing information for those of us who truly want to be savvy, and smart shoppers!

  39. i had no intention of starting a hate rant against couponing which is what a lot of comments have turned to after my comment…. i just like to look at both sides of the coin and to educate myself and others. as a home economics teacher i strive to constantly learn more. before jills post, i didn’t know there was a usda page for food expiration labeling. In commenting i was just hoping to instil a sense of responsibiliy, consumer advocacy, and higher questioning. no one is an expert on all this stuff. jill is an experienced couponer and she has educated and helped a lot of people however, she is not perfect, nor am i, or anyone else, even a dominicks manager ;) lets just hold ourself to the same standards we hold of others, if the stores should be responsible for checking every aisle of food weekly for expired products, don’t you think we could check our carts? that’s all i’m sayin’ !!

  40. They have absolutely nothing to do with each other or the motivation behind any of this. I do find humor in the hypocrisy of not accepting expired coupons by a store that deems it perfectly acceptable to sell items beyond their expiration date.

    By my reasoning, if the coupon’s expiration date is after the product’s expiration date and today’s date is beyond the product’s expiration date, I should get to use the coupon; meaning, if I have a coupon that expired in December, 2008 and that product sitting on the shelf has an October, 2008 Expiration Date, in 2011, I should be able to use that coupon if I am willing to subject myself to diarrhea.

    Mind you, items like certain medications do not go bad beyond their expiration dates, they just start losing their effectiveness. Yet, they sit on the shelf typically asking full price for them. Most vendors will replace an expired item on the shelf for free because they want to ensure that their customers enjoy their product. The problem is probably more so linked to the product that the store employees receive off the Dominicks trucks. Having been a former Pepsi employee, we would regularly rotate our stock and if a product was expired, we would swap it out. Oldest unexpired stock would always be moved to endcap displays. Expired stock would be removed. Stock in the warehouse was always closely monitored and dumped if it was expired. We would inventory our stock nightly and products approaching their expiration dates months ahead of time would be pushed for selling. Diet products always had the shortest shelf life and, as a cautionary note, never buy diet products sitting in the sun.

    Now . . . . if the store wants to place all post-expiration date items in one aisle that sells at a discount, I am ok with that. However, they should not be interspersed with unexpired product.

  41. I am glad that Jill did this. I recently had a bad experience with Dominick’s. I got sick from Sargento cheese that had expired over 2 months prior. I returned the cheese and they gave me a new package (do you know how difficult it is to load a 5,3 and 1 year old into the car with all their winter gear on to return an item). The next day I went to open a package of muffins and yet again these had expired more than a month before. I called customer service and filed a complaint. The woman assured me that the problem would be addressed and that employees are supposed to be checking the shelves to keep products fresh and up to date. No one wants to close down Dominick’s. I really like alot of the employees at the Crystal Lake Dominicks. All we want to see is that we, as consumers, are listened to and that Dominick’s will be proactive in solving this problem. I am sorry, but it is very difficult for me to check every item to make sure it has not expired. I tried for 3 months at 3 different Dominick’s to buy Wholly Queso and every time I had to tell the Deli counter that they were all expired. This is a problem. The best way to run a store is to listen and address the needs of your customers.

  42. Its a shame that it took the media to make Dominicks to respond to this. Its obviously been a subject brought to their attention several times before. Thank you Jill for standing up for all of us! I haven’t shopped there for a while and do not plan on going back.

  43. … Of those folks who say that Jill only posted this because of the expired coupon issue.

    Let’s just say, playing devil’s advocate here, that it’s true. That the only reason Jill went on this little field trip is because she’s mad about the expired coupons.

    Ummmm…. that doesn’t change the fact that she has highlighted a HUGE problem. Regardless of her motivation for identifying it, the problem remains the same! An obscene amount of expired food on the shelves!!!

    Why can’t Dominicks put their effort into solving the problem instead of blaming, making excuses, and pointing fingers??!?!?

    Off to read part two….

  44. You people that are blaming Jill for this are NUTS!!! This has NOTHING to do with expired coupons!

    Ask yourself a few questions……

    Is it a good business practice for a grocery store to have expired food on the shelves that they sell to their customers on a daily basis?

    You really want to feed your family expired food? I DON’T!

    Think about your own job….Would this be satisfactory performance that your boss or employer would ignore? DIDN’T THINK SO

    You think this is world class customer service? Yeah, sure you do! NOT!!!

    It would be nice to see the written procedures that Dominick’s has for it’s Management Team and Associates to follow in regards to pulling expired merchandise from their shelves. Do you think that a corporation as large as Dominick’s doesn’t have written ‘work procedures’ for all employee’s to follow? Think again, they do.

    Times are tough and jobs are hard to find, we all agree. Perhaps those that are going to lose their jobs over this should open their own business, a store that sells EXPIRED FOOD! They could call it EXPIRED FOR LESS!! Hmmm how many of you would be lining up for the deals that they would offer. OK, that’s what I thought!

    If you just got home from the store and noticed that ou just bought food that is expired would it be ok with you?? I know I would be upset and wouldn’t feed it to my family. Maybe you would?

    Jill has taken time out of her busy schedule to try to work with Dominick’s to communicate our that others have brought to her attention. It’s obvious that they didn’t want the feedback and didn’t care to take the time to listen to what MANY customers were saying.

    I know I will NEVER shop at Dominick’s again, I don’t care what they are giving away or how great the deal is. Truth be told used to shop at Dominick’s but stopped years ago, within the past year started to go back because of the deals that Jill was posting. Too bad I’m done and I don’t care how good the deal is!!

  45. Hello Jill.

    Just signed up for your forum with the intention of giving you and your cohorts a BIG THUMBS UP!

    But now I’m confused by what I’m reading.

    Are people actually defending Dominck’s? Or, are they just in a bad mood and are looking for a venue to vent? Maybe they’d feel better if mom brought them a nice glass of warm milk (but mom doesn’t have to look at the expiration date on the milk. I’m sure it’s fine).

    I am glad that I have read these posts though because apparently…I’m lazy. I didn’t realize that until just now (thank you Paco for my epiphany).

    I didn’t know that it was my job to double check the work that is (was?, should be?) being done already by the grocer. Kind of a hard concept to grasp.

    See, I have my own business and I don’t expect my customers to have to check every wire connection, every pipe fitting or every nail and screw. They just know that they’re getting the best service that they pay for.

    It’s a trust thing.

    I’m also glad because I just got an English lesson. Some nice folks were kind enough (probably them college types) to explain that “Use By” and “Best if Used By” don’t mean the same thing. Thanks for that. They then go on to explain that these post “Best if Used By” items are still edible. (Hmm…Dirt’s edible. I just don’t want any.) It just means that these items may not be of the same quality as they were prior to expiration. Really? Are they saying they’re okay with that? Do they choose the bruised apples over the perfect ones? No…probably not. But, they are both edible. When I go tomorrow for my morning joe, should I ask for my cup to be poured from the hours old pot, or the freshly brewed one? Now I’m confused. Both are edible (drinkable? gulp-able? sip-able?). Now my head hurts.

    Anyway, keep up the great work. We need you.

    Sincerely,

    Will Workforfood (edible, but maybe not quality)
    First-time blogger, long-time fan.

  46. First off Jill you have too much time on you hands to go and spend 2 hours going through shelves looking for out of date product, especially when most of the product hasnt even really expired! I can bet that if it was in your house already and you bought it when it was “in code” that you would still eat it if it was unopened and only had a “sell by” or “best if before” date. Second off why just single out Dominick’s first? This is a problem anywhere! Why not start at Jewel or Meijer or even Woodmans? I honestly think that you did it because you were and are upset that they changed their coupon policy! Just like food expires coupons expire they are no longer good! FYI I know from my personal experience that the computer system will not exccept them NOT the employees!

    To the rest of you:
    If youre a loyal customer and you stop shopping there it took this long for you to stop and it took some person with too much time on her hands for you to realize this? Im sure that most of you have found out of dates at any store and might have put it right back on the self and havent notified the store about it and dont sit there and say youre not guilty of this, we all have done it atleast once in our lives. For those of you who think that there may be out of dates in the dairy and meat sections walk through the stores and look closly…when you go through those departments product that is close to its expiration date it is marked down! Also for those of you idiots…eggs are good for 30 days after the date on the carton(and eggs are not even refrigerated on farms! So think about the products and how many of them really expire and how many are still good! Most dates are suggestions think about that!

    Customer service is the hardest job to work in, I know from past experience. Customers put the employees through hell and expect everything to be perfect! Nothing in this world is perfect! People especially! Get over it and move on! This is a problem in every store and company no matter what people say or the stores say.

    I will always shop at Dominick’s the employees are good and I have never had any problems with Dominick’s ever. The people there try to help customers to the best of their ability and do what ever is possible to make customers happy!

    PS Most of you need to get a life!

  47. Jill,

    Thank you so much for doing this. I am a parent of a child who got seriously ill from eating expired pepperoni purchased at Dominick’s. I honestly believed that my situation was isolated. NOW I am seeing that my situation is not isolated. The store manager did what he could to “fix” it, although you can’t fix a sick child. I pray that no one goes through what we had to experience. It was truly a nightmare, I never ever want anyone to re-live EVER. I now check the dates on everything I buy, no matter where I shop. THANK YOU for calling this to the attention of the hundreds of thousands of others and the media who will reach millions more! Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!

  48. If the meatballs or ANY product does not have a posted date then the ONLY people that know whether or not a product is expired is the MANUFACTURE. Just saying. But other than that I think this can be a very good thing. However when somebody says that dominicks should go out of business that is terrible. The unemployment rate is already high enough as it plus many of the employees have to support their children. Yes expired food is a HUGE problem BUT it is a problem everywhere. When someone makes a mistake you should say “hey don’t do it again fix it” politicians can do whatever they want. And we don’t do anything. There are a ton of problems but we should be looking for a solution. Thank you.

  49. Last summer, I began noticing expired food at my local Dominick’s. More than once, Dominick’s employees did not remove the product after I pointed it out. I took my complaints to Dominick’s Headquarters. They turned the comments back to the store manager who left harrassing phone messages on my voicemail for a couple of weeks. I am a habitual expiration date watcher. Dominick’s is relying on ignorant consumers. Thank you to this blog and the Chicago Tribune for making this a bigger issue!

  50. I do the grocery shopping for my household to help my wife out as she works full time, cleans the house, wash the cloths, cooks, etc. So, when I shop, I look for the longest date available,(period of time before it expires), just like the milk date, and if I find something expired or close to expiration, I leave on the shelf, I take the freshest one available. The dates are easy to read, except on the bread, for some reason the date is imprinted on the printed words. Maybe I’m doing something wrong, but when I shop, I don’t go with my friends, I don’t talk on the phone, I pay attention to what I’m doing, & I am in & out of the store fast! I should also mention, I consider myself a “value orientated consumer”. I buy only name brand items, cause I like the quality & those are the only items coupons are available for. Dominick’s has good prices and unbeatable sale ads. Up until now, Dominick’s accepted “Expired Coupons”, as were Jewel, Walmart & many Centrella stores adamantly refused to accept them, even if expired by 1 day. I hope you didn’t screw this up for me and other people who don’t have all day to sit around and clip coupons.

    Once last year, I bought a cake mix and frosting with a close to expire date, but I like that flavor. I took it home and my wife failed to use it right away. While it was in the pantry, (we forgot about it), it expired. I took it back to Dominick’s, on my next shopping trip, without a receipt, and they exchanged it for me, with out incident. NO BIG DEAL!

    In a way, it’s good you brought this to our attention, cause I will check the dates more closely from know on, usually I only check the dates on perishable items.
    Bottom line, everyone has to be accountable for their own actions; Check the dates before you buy, wherever you shop. And instead of bashing Dominick’s because they changed their coupon policy and it doesn’t work for you anymore,(NO MORE FREE GROCERIES), take your expired coupons too JEWEL or Walmart & see how fast they “Throw you out on your Ass”.
    And if you want to bash someone, Bash the Oil Companies, “Cause every time there’s a waste paper basket fire at some refinery, the price of gas at the pump goes up”!

  51. Too bad you went to the Carpentersville Dominick’s five days after I went there for Kitchen Bouquet. I scoured the shelf looking for a bottle that wasn’t expired. I went up to the Service Desk and asked if someone could help me in the gravy aisle. The woman said she’d be happy to. She asked what I was looking for and I told her Kitchen Bouquet. She said, “Oh, yes. It’s right here.” I said, “I was hoping you might find a bottle for me that didn’t expire two years ago.” She said, “Oh, I didn’t realize that was the issue.” She went through every bottle on the shelf and found one that was good for 11 more months. All the rest of the bottles (maybe 20 of them), she pulled off the shelf right then. I think she was responsive. She didn’t leave them on the shelf. But I was shocked by how out of date the products were. In reality, the bottle I had at home that I was replacing was less expired then the products they were selling on their shelves.

  52. Like so many others here, I’m not at all surprised by this news. I shop at the Fox River Grove Dominick’s, and learned years ago to scrutinize every item I buy there because there are expired products in every single aisle. I’ve found meat and dairy items that were 3-4 days past the sell-by, bread and cheese that were moldy, and shelf and frozen goods that were more than a year expired. I always thought it was just this particular store, and that perhaps it was due to less traffic and turnover than at the busier locations. But I’ve also noticed that they don’t necessarily rotate their stock, and that often they put the fresher items in front of much older products, so I think a lot of expired items get buried. I’ve pointed things out to the employees, managers, and customer service on numerous occasions, and even pulled stuff off the shelves myself to show them, but it never changes.

    I do like the store and the employees there, but I’ve been shopping there less and less due to their ever-changing coupon policies and the high prices. This is just the icing on the expired cake.

  53. seriously why would you bash someone that uses coupons. our taxes went up and yet instead of being upset that people get paid from the government to sit around and get taxpayers money for food housing babysitting medical needs and ect..(you know people that are able to get a real job but would rather get paid to do nothing) you wanna bash people that use coupons. think about it get mad at the people sitting on there butts playing the system with every tax payers money. i guess you are just mad cause you dont understand. read jills site and educate yourself

  54. It reminds me of the old bait and switch game……..Dominick’s prides itself on “wordy” slogans as it states…. Fresh Values. And now it appears once you are in the store the “fresh values” are a bit “not so fresh”. Although, it’s not illegal to sell most expired items it does become a bit of a moral issue on their part. Possibly this current notoriety will cause a positive wave of change on their part. Jill and those involved that brought this subject public are an easy target for ridicule but a few voices standing up for change is never easy and sometimes not popular but sometimes we have to “be the change” Good Job Jill and crew!!

  55. This all gets me thinking if Jewel would pass the “date test” too? Just makes you wonder if one store is getting away with it are they all?

  56. This has been happening since Safeway took over Dominick’s. I stopped bothering to go to Dominick’s for dairy products years ago, because many items like cottage cheese and milk, were either right up to or past the sell through date. I found this at the Schaumburg store on Roselle Road, and the Hoffman Estates store on Higgins. I reported this to store and regional management, but obviously there was nothing done about it.

    Dominick’s has also been selling “Porterhouse” steaks that consist of gristle and fat, where the tenderloin should be. Sometimes there is nothing there at all. This is particularly evident in the “value packs”. I have spoken with Dominick’s management at the store and corporate level, and nothing has changed. I have also spoken with individual’s at Safeway.

    I initially found Jewel was selling steaks labeled as “Porterhouse”, that were missing the tenderloin. I first brought this to management’s attention over a year ago. This year, I have noticed that the Porterhouse steaks now appear to have enough tenderloin to qualify as Porterhouse.

    It should be noted that the Chicago Tribune did not respond to my concerns about expired food at Dominick’s, concerns which I expressed recently. I brought my concerns about the meat at Jewel, to the attention of John Yates. He replied by stating “your complaint is not one I plan to investigate. It is not clear from your e-mail that this is a widespread problem, nor one in which people have been harmed.”

    I had given Yates the addresses of three stores in which I had found the problem, and I also advised him that somebody had posted reports about a fourth, on the Internet.

    I have also been seeing more expired produsts at Jewel too. I am also concerned about how fresh their produce is.

    Woodman’s can’t get here fast enough.

  57. I want to make sure that it is clear that I have been checking sell through dates, since they started to be printed. As I stated previously, I gave up on shopping for certain items at Dominick’s. However, at all stores, I always point out to employees, items that have expired.

    I also want to make it clear that I have always found the Jewel and for the most part, Dominick’s employees, to be very good people. Their respective corporate managers, do not appear to have much respect for their customers though.

  59. I always welcome a healthy discussion of any topic on my blog from all of my readers. However, today I have had to remove a few posts from this discussion as they violate the terms of my site — verbal attacks, slurs, and cursing are not tolerated.

    In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll tell you what I removed and why:

    – A post from a Dominick’s employee cursing and calling me names.

    – A post that accused me of being a racist, which included racial slurs. (Baffling, and for what it’s worth, this person had my ethnicity incorrect.)

    – Two posts that accused me of uncovering the expired food story specifically so that disabled people would lose their jobs, then went on and on about my supposed “crusade against the disabled.” (Again, completely baffling – I’ve never posted anything like this. If I’ve crusaded against anything, it’s only been that consuming expired food is a health issue, and removing it from shelves may prevent people from getting sick. I don’t want to see anyone lose their job… unless, possibly, it was their job was to rotate stock and remove it from the shelves, and they weren’t doing that. Given the widespread nature of the problem, I think many of us are of the impression that stock resetting didn’t happen to be anyone’s job.)

    – A post that accused me of orchestrating my series of blog posts for the sole purpose of driving more traffic to my site so that I would “receive enough ad revenue to afford a tummy tuck.” (This site is viewed by nearly 40,000 uniques each week. I’m not hurting for traffic in the least. As for ads, I’ve been blogging for nearly three years, and savings-related ads have always been present to support the cost of hosting my site, the hosting bills for which run in the high hundreds of dollars each month. If anyone would like to pay my hosting bill in exchange for an ad-free site, let’s talk. Lastly, if you’ve ever met me, you’d also know that I’m so thin that my mom thinks I need to gain weight. Certainly no candidate for a tummy tuck.)

    That’s all. Healthy discussion = allowed. Attacks = not allowed.

    Carry on.

  60. We make it a definite habit to check expiration dates, especially with the toxic mold found recently in expired Cake mixes.
    This C’ville location is very close as is the LITH location. My question is, with Woodmans, Walmart, Jewel, Caputo’s, and Joseph’s all nearby why is anyone still shopping at these two stores. When Woodman’s opened up a few years ago, we were thrilled because we save a minimum of $50 per week EVERY week on groceries, for Christmas we received a Visa Debit card, Woodman’s does not accept so we went to Walmart on Randall, our normal $160 bill was $108.00. These Dominick’s are ghost towns the very few times we have shopped, with all of the unemployment and companies in Crystal Lake/Mc Henry County closing, why are smart shoppers not comparison shopping?
    I just do not understand?

  61. Jill, echoing everything everyone else has said, a masterful job reporting and exposing what shopping at Dominicks is really like. Corporate has gotten a severe wakeup call. I wonder if they wish they had listened to you for the past year, this could all have been avoided and handled quietly. It is a shame that thousands of complaints were not enough, but TV News and the Tribune got it done.

    Did you know there is a site for people who Loathe Dominick’s?

    The photos over there of moldy food on the shelves will have you screaming. Here’s one a shopper took this morning!

    https://www.lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=16&p=363194

  62. Dominicks clearly brought this on themselves.

    Anyone who has worked a food pantry knows that they don’t even offer expired food to their patrons. The volunteers diligently check each item brought in for expiration. At the food pantries, we do not deem a person so low in their financial position as to warrant only expired goods; so, why does Dominicks treat their patrons with even less respect.

    Even the health department won’t allow expired products on the shelves in the schools.

    So, why are we consumers subjected to this rude display of management? Do we need to see a change in corporate management, store management, better training for all store personnel or all of the above?

    It most likely is a combination of corporate Dominicks not caring enough about the consumer to personally monitor their stores more closely. It is also poor management and training at the store level to allow or insist the stock persons to continue to leave expired products on the shelves hoping some unsuspecting non-date checking consumer will purchase it.

    Kudos for the consumers and blogs like Jill’s. Only the squeaky wheel gets the grease.

    Buyer BEWARE!

  63. I was just telling my husband about this situation, and how some people are saying that Jill did this because she was mad about no longer accepting the expired coupons, and he said something that totally cracked me up. He said, “Maybe they will let us use the expired coupons to buy the expired food!” heeheehee

  64. I work at a Dominick’s. Our store has a memo that I think all stores have now. It has your picture on it with the other 2 ladies you shopped with. All the stores are told to DETAIN ALL OF YOU if any of you come in the store and call a special number to corporate. If you come into a store you better have a news crew with you because everyone has been told not to let you leave if you come in and our manager said lock the doors if we have to.

    THIS IS NOT A LIE. I am not kidding and I think it’s really sad that this is how they are acting. Because you know what you were right. They are scared of teh truth and you told nothing but the TRUTH! OUR STORE IS FULL OF EXPIRED FOOD! We have filled 22 carts with expired food and they are still working on it. Not even close to done. It is nobody’s job to rotate stock at all, and that is because of Safeway telling us how many hours we can spend on it. There are not eough hours for 2 people at night to do that whole store so for years it sits.

    I need my job so I can’t say what store I work for but trust me the memo. It has a security camera picture on it and YOU WILL BE DETAINED if you come in. I made a copy to scanner and email to you when I am home, this is posting from my phone. Remember the expired food is SAFEWAY’S fault.

  65. First of all, I’ll clearly state – It’s not OK to sell expired products. Don’t be naive though, this is a universal issue in big grocery stores (at least). I have not yet gone into a host of other stores to see for myself, but I plan to. If you were to Google “(Any of the above stores) expired products” you will find “expired products” issues at all of the above stores, and most likely, every big grocery selling store that you search. Singling out one “brand” – Dominicks – seems to be rather irresponsible reporting when anyone reading this can see for themselves that there are expired product issues throughout all the big names. So…you can judge Dominicks if you please and shop somewhere else, but remember to check those expiration dates. That new store your shopping at has bad dates too…

  66. What you don’t understand is how bad the problem with expired food is at Dominick’s. It is unlike every other store I ever have seen.

    Imagine a store where the expired products outnumber the ones that are not past their date. That is the reality of shopping at Dominick’s. Like another person said if 3 out of every 4 foods on the shelf are expired is this a place you would want to shop?

    Go to the Orland Dominick’s and look at the shelves today. There’s hardly anything left. Clean out the expired and the shelves are bare behind 1 row of foods set up at the edge of the shelf but there is nothing behind them. It looks like over 70% of the stock was removed for being expired.

    Shopping there was like bizarro world where everything outdates in 2009-2010. But one kid working yesterday said they found food that expired 2006 in there.

    The skeptics have no clue how bad this is. This is not an every grocery store problem, it is a Dominick’s problem. Maybe they want to eat 5 year old expired food and they want shoppers to, but the Illinois Food Bank won’t even accept donating after the date on the package. You can’t donate expired food.

    I am glad that Dominick’s is finally going to be cleaned up. My child has special diet needs and health issues and any case of food poisoning could be lethal for her.

  67. This is just terrible. I NEVER check exp dates and can’t believe that these grocery stores are allowed to sell these products. I have linked this blog to all the food sites I use. The only way DOMINICKS is going to sort out this problem is when we hit them in the pocked and SHOP ELSEWHERE! Thank you for bringing this to our attention.

  68. I stock for the leading local chain in Sacramento area. I’ve done this for 20 years. This has always been a problem. The companies try so hard to reduce labor costs by making stockers work faster than they should. One of the first practices they drop is proper rotation. They simply cannot meet expected target speeds and properly rotate at the same time. The last year has been particularly bad. We were threatened with disciplinary action (and some with termination) if new target figures in a newly started productivity program were not met. When your job is on the line, and targets cannot be met while properly rotating, employees just stop rotating. As a direct result of your articles and the media attention, I have seen a company email circulating about how to tackle this problem in our chain. This never would have occurred with just employee or customer complaints. THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
    I did find it interesting that most of the same products you found expired at Dominicks are the same products I always find expired at my workplace. Boxed baby food, Kraft Mac n cheese, Quaker granola bars, hamburger helper are among the most frequent that I find and frequently are delivered to the store already expired. All generic store brands seem to carry shorter codes. Always check the dates.

  69. I’ve worked for Dominicks for longer then most people have been alive. For those of us who have been around since before Safeway came in let me say it breaks our hearts when we see what has happened to Dominick’s. They took what was an outstanding chain of well over a hundred stores and turned it in to what you see today. If anyone wants to see what Dominicks would look like today just go to Arlington Heights and visit Mariano’s impressive store. Actually, while you’re there say “Hello” to a lot of former Dominick’s employees.
    My idea is probably pie (out of code)in the sky wishful thinking but I was wondering if anyone thought Safeway would respond to a petition drive to ask them to sell Dominicks. If enough people responded and with the news media connection that Jill has who knows, it might get traction. Could you imagine the headlines in Crains? “SHOPPERS WANT DOMINICKS SOLD”
    BTW I doubt the existance of a notice to detain you however since I have been watching ‘COPS’ for about 40 years I do know that if they tell you not to shop at their stores then they could have you arrested for trespassing. I don’t think being banned from the big “D” would be that big of deal. I work there but I never shop there…..I go to Wal mart.

  70. Jill, you must be causing quite a stir around town! With this stuff on Dominicks hitting the news, alot of other stores seem to be tidying up their shelves.

    I just went tonight to Walmart and saw two men with flashlights on the floor setting MOUSETRAPS with peanut butter. Not an appetizing thought!

    Thanks for all your hard work.

  71. This information scares me. Food safety must be strictly implemented in all wet and dry markets. Both consumers and market managers are responsible for the checking and rechecking of the food and most especially, the food expiration date. The expiration date that seems on packaged food is complicated to a lot of people, largely as a result of phrases used, such as “Best Before”,“Sell By” or “Use By.” Be very keen on these important info when buying food.

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