So it’s official. According to a research done by the Czech daily MF DNES, over one third of grocery stores in the Czech Republic sell bad or expired food. Items are either left on the shelves past the expiration date, or, in worse cases, repackaged with a “new” expiration date printed on them. (iDNES article – in Czech)
A manager of the Julius Meinl meat department in České Budějovice is facing two years in jail for having ordered her staff to rinse expired meat. Employees were instructed to rinse bad meat products in a mixture of water and vinegar to remove any smell, and to cut off bad parts. The meat was then sold to customers. (iDNES article – in Czech)
I’m unfortunately used to seeing expired food on the shelves. It seems to be quite normal at some small grocery stores in my neighborhood where expired butter, chocolate or packaged ham aren’t hard to find. Since moving back to the Czech Republic a year ago, I’ve learned to check the expiration date of each and every product I put into my basket. It makes shopping take longer, but I’d rather spend the extra time to not have to throw away the contents of my bag after coming home. Not that it’s never happened and not that checking expiration dates always does the trick.
A few months ago, Jeff and I made a decent size shopping at the Delvita on Karlovo náměstí. We wanted to stock up on meat (we had bought meat there previously and were happy with it), so we bought two packages of pork tenderloin (panenka, the most expensive cut) and a package of chicken breasts, all marked with a future expiration date. When we got home and opened one of the packages of pork to cook it for dinner, we were greeted with a horrible smell that didn’t go away even after we let the meat “breathe”, refusing to believe that “our Delvita” actually sold us bad meat. We checked the other package and it was the same. To our astonishment, the chicken was bad as well. We threw out all the meat and were left with no dinner. But wait, that’s not all. I remember throwing out another item from that day’s shopping. Was it moldy bread? Maybe. Anyway, the Delvita on Karlovo náměstí is not “our Delvita” anymore.
Another similar experience was recently provided by the Carrefour Eden in Prague 10. We shop there regularly. Among other things, we used to buy fresh fish there because we can’t find it anywhere else within a reasonable radius from our home. Around 7 p.m. on September 6, we bought our usual salmon fillets and we also splurged and got two cod fillets. Not the cheap cod. We got the more expensive kind. You can imagine our surprise when we unwrapped the fish around noon the next day, looking forward to making our favorite baked cod, and, yet again, our noses were hit with a sickening smell. So, after striking Delvita on Karlovo náměstí from our list, we also no longer buy fresh fish at Carrefour Eden, or do so rarely and with a sense of taking a chance. The fact that one of the fish counter employees routinely uses his teeth to open the plastic bag before wrapping your fish in it isn’t exactly appealing either.
I’m not even going to elaborate on Carrefour’s fruit and vegetable section where one can happily select from rotten apples and grapes and tired-looking tomatoes. Sometimes I stand in front of the displays of rotten fruit and quietly wonder if it is for real or if the store is trying to play a joke on us. But no one ever laughs.
Welcome to the real world. The Czech Republic has finally arrived in the real competetive capitalistic business world. Maximizing Profits is the name of the game! By the way you sound, American marketing experts must have arrived in CZ. Your Grocery Shopping experince has been common here in the US for the past 10 years. To beat the exparation, grocery chains have been re washing/packaging eggs, re-stampin milk cartons and prepackeged meat cuts all have an 1/4 to 1/3 of Lb — that is 100gr to 150gr sold to you at the maket price of the meat — of watersoaked paperpadding to augment the weight. The fruit spoils before you have a chance to put it in the fuit bowl at home, net weights listed are always short by the allowed 10% commercial bulk allowance and gasoline is spiked with additional alcohol/water. The most creative approach is Wall-Marts “disapearing ink receipts” which you need to return defective items. Hence, you need to make a copy as soon as you get home, for in 2 or 3 days, you’ll only have a blank piece of paper. Mexico is even worst, this is where you can fill a 5 gallon(18.75 ltr) container with 23 ltrs (it’s commom knowledgew that the operators use what is called a “diablo (devil)”, an electronic card, that dispenses only 0.800 ltr but charges you 1.00 ltr at the pump. Businessmans greed is universal. Hence, now I can predict, that the next step, is “shop lifting” which is still not quite popular in CZ, will become a trend soon to even out the score. American business just add 22% to the price to cover for the shop lifting loss. Just do not get caught. By the way, do not overlook the “scanning” scam all large stores are engaged in — ringging up a higher price that was listed on the shelf, and it’s up to you to catch the error, if not, you get overchaged. On an average grocery bill of $75.00 it is common to have at least $5.00 to $10.00 of “computer errors” as the businesses call it!This is all allowed by the law, since there are no legal sanctions aginst the businesses. Maybe Napoleon had something going, by sending crooked bakers to the guilotine for defrauding the public. Maybe that old laws, protecting consumers should be universaly revived… Reltively, the CZ business community is still honest, but give them time and they’ll catch up. Why not, since everyone else is doing it, and the govenment does not object, since they also profit on the sales tax, which is determined by a percentage of the sale. In my area , we pay — in adition to all other taxes 8.75% in sales tax. It’s a win, win proposition for business and government — why then have laws controlling rip off’s…
Viktor
Hi Viktor,
Thanks for your comment. It was interesting to read. I lived in the US (Texas and California) for seven years and just moved back to the Czech Republic last fall. From that whole time, I remember one instance of throwing away meat that I brought home from Safeway. In my one year in Prague, I can think of at least six times when I either bought expired food or noticed a past (sometimes VERY past) expiration date on a product on the shelf, or I bought something that wasn’t supposed to be expired and then had to throw it away at home.
When shopping in grocery stores in the US, I never felt the need to check the expiration date of every item. In the grocery stores I shopped at (be it Safeway, Andronicos, Whole Foods or Central Market), the fruit & veggie staff was constantly there, monitoring the produce. If a Safeway customer ever pointed out a single rotting peach to an employee, the employee would quickly remove it with apologies. I don’t remember ever seeing old or spoiled produce sitting in plain view of the customer like I commonly see at Carrefour here. I never saw swarms of little fruit bugs circling above and landing on grapes, bananas, pineapple, like I saw last week inside a small Prague grocery store whose employees didn’t seem to care one bit.
I’m not saying that the US is perfect and I believe that there are rip-offs and dishonest practices. Like you say, businessmen’s greed is universal. But in the US I felt that there are customer rights and laws that can be enforced, limits which a store wouldn’t dare cross or it would go out of business, that the customer is an institution for which a good number of stores bend over backwards, or at least pretend to. I felt pampered as a customer there. Here I often feel unwelcome.
You brought up shoplifting. In the US, the existence of shoplifting rarely crossed my mind. In the Czech Republic, I’m constantly reminded about it. I’m still not used to being watched by uniformed guards as soon as I enter a store in Prague. It’s a very strange feeling to be looking through blouses and knowing that a cop is keeping an eye on you. “Welcome to our store!” In the Czech Republic, customers are presumed thieves as you can not only see but can be told into your face by a “customer disservice” employee at Carrefour Nový Smíchov.
Dana
Dana:
Things have changed drastically in the US there past 2-3 years. Seems business declared a war on the public… Sort of an anything goes attitute. About 80% of the purcahsed items –Made in China — are defective and need to be returned, in your time in the US, the stores probably had cut rate prices of “old” expired meat/merchandize that and sold it at a fraction of the price. Today, it is repackeged.
When I lived in Brazil, my HS English teached boosted about her visit to the US in 1958, and what impressed her the most, was the fact that a news stand owner in Chicago, had news stands on all four corners, left unatednded and people just left the money for their purchase(s) in a open box. Happy, content and honest people she said. Today, we hear on the news daily, that people crashed their trucks through the pane glass, tie a chain around the ATM, and draged it out!Seems that crooks do not even have money to get guns anymore…
How times have changed? I guess the US economy and corrupt politicians have much to do with the public attitute. Malcontent and dishonesty is evertywhere. Even in my perfect idealistic CZ! I was surprized to hear from you that “there actualy is shoplifting in CZ”. I guess, I never made it to the “seedier neighborhoods” in Prague. But then I’ve this pristine immage of the Czech people and country, as told by my parents over the years. They sort of “basnily” about the old country – maybe CZ it was like that in the 1920’s & 1930’s — Hence, it somewhat expains my less than realistic “expectations” during my visit. I was shocked to see prostitutes abound in Prague. But then, the only Czech woman that I realy knew was Mom. I also found out, that not all Czech women are great cooks (like Mom). Maybe that expalins, how come my oldest daughter has trouble boiling water (it’s not in the genes). She actually knows how to “burn” water, despite my Mom’s attempt to teach her cooking.
It must be this Globalization thing?????
Viktor
Hi Viktor,
I’m sorry to hear that things are so bad where you live. When I lived in the S. F. Bay Area until a year ago, and visited this past May for three weeks, I never had a problem shopping and didn’t notice a worsening trend. I always felt like a queen, especially comparing to what I knew about shopping and customer service in the Czech Republic. In fact, the American shopping experience as we know it is what my husband and I probably miss the most here. In general, there is virtually no comparison.
A note on shoplifting. I wasn’t talking about seedy neighborhoods! Why on earth would I shop there? 🙂 Last month I witnessed a shoplifting situation at the Body Basics on Na Příkopě, which is one of the posh shopping avenues in the center of Prague. A young girl stuffing lipsticks inside her t-shirt. That was the only time I ever saw someone trying to steal. I don’t believe that Czechs are any more prone to shoplifting than any other nation. It’s just that every country tries to solve the problem in different ways I guess. The in-store guards I was mentioning are in regular stores in and near the city center – Na příkopě, at the Marks & Spencer, in the new shiny shopping malls… Just go to any Carrefour and the first thing you’ll see is a number of uniformed men pacing in front. At first I thought they were there to protect the customers from an unknown threat. Silly me! Now I know their job is to protect the store from the customers!