# Spoiled prepared foods



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

I've had it with Loblaws denying that it was only me that got sick from a prepared creamy green coleslaw, manufactured
in the US (Sheboygan Wisconsin) under the rather obscure name of "Grandma's creamy green homemade coleslaw.

The manager of the local Loblaws store where I live in the west end of Ottawa, and where I bought this stuff from a refrigerated but open cooler in their deli section, is denying that that other containers of the same product on the same shelf were spoiled, as he and some other employee tasted it and didn't get sick with the runs for 3.5 days like I did. 

I bought the cole slaw on Sunday July 10 at 2:30pm. When i took it home to have with my supper, I opened it and it tasted spoiled. I only tasted a small teaspoon of it, but unfortunately swallowed the stuff rather than spit it out as I wasn't used to that taste in coleslaw, and wasn't sure if it was the ingredients used, or actually spoiled, but I didn't eat any more of it. Decided to return it to the store.

When I returned the same spoiled product at 5pm on Sunday the 10th, the courtesy counter clerk asked if I wanted my money back or what. I told him at that time, not being affected yet, I will take the same size of Ziggys oil and vinegar.

The next day at 12pm, I started to pay the price of tasting Grandmas homemade creamy green coleslaw...it went on for 3 days.

I got one call from Loblaws consumer relations in Brampton, promising somebody would contact me, but there wasn't a followup from anyone from Loblaws, including the local store manager. 

About a week and a half ago, I got a call from an insurance investigator for the producer of that coleslaw in Sheybogan Wisconsin . He gave me a claims number in case of "further court action". I didn't give it much thought after that, but today, that same insurance investigator agent called back to tell me my claim was denied, nd he would send the claims denied letter to my address.

I immediately phoned the local Loblaws store manager (to whom I had written a letter on July 14th after being sick for 3 days), and asked him what happened to the bad coleslaw container. If anybody else had purchased the product and gotten sick.

He told me that that container was inadvertently thrown in the garbage the same day I returned it and not retained for further followup, but he and some other store employee took "two or three containers" from the shelf with different date codes and tasted them. He said nothing happened after tasting these containers..they didn't get sick..so it must have been a container that was left in the store by a customer un-refrigerated for a while, or returned and put back in the coleslaw/meat open cooler.

I guess I was just the unlucky customer to have bought that "one off" spoiled container with the pathogens inside it that made me sick. The local store just tossed the evidence in the garbage, and that is as far as it will go. 
No followup on what it was that made me sick because there was no documentation or paperwork with my signature about the complaint ...just 3 days of uncomfortable misery.

Very poor customer relations from Loblaws these days. Beware when you buy any prepared foods or sliced
meats!


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

^ Wow, that's really crappy (no pun intended) from Loblaws ... why don't you file a complaint (ie. send your a copy of your letter) to your local Public Health Department? I think your Loblaws there need a visit from your local health inspector. ... let see how they can deny that.


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

looks like Canadian supermarkets don't give a [email protected] about Public Health or amy other department.
I've seen in our Highland Farm, Bulgarian eggplants spread that was expired ... 2 years ago! It was written in Bulgarian (that is very similar to Russian) , so I was able to understand it perfectly. When I showed it to assistant manager, he said "Oh, ok, we gonna remove this product from the shelves" ... I came 1 week later and same product was sitting on the shelves again!

In Metro , I've encountered expired diary products. 
In Superstore several times we've bought "fresh" fish with very bad smell etc...


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

They "test" bad food by eating it..........LOL.

I am thinking there isn't a lot of demand for Bulgarian eggplant spread Gibor.......


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## gibor365 (Apr 1, 2011)

sags said:


> They "test" bad food by eating it..........LOL.
> 
> I am thinking there isn't a lot of demand for Bulgarian eggplant spread Gibor.......


Not really true! Bulgarian eggplant, zucchini and other spreads are pretty popular, esp. among former CCCP people and tasty


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Beaver101 said:


> ^ Wow, that's really crappy (no pun intended) from Loblaws ... why don't you file a complaint (ie. send your a copy of your letter) to your local Public Health Department? *I think your Loblaws there need a visit from your local health inspector. ... let see how they can deny that*.


Can't call the Public Health Dept. Loblaws store destroyed the evidence, and basically told me ..sorry but you were the ONLY one that got sick. The manager of the store phoned me last week and _denied that they were selling any containers with spoiled product_. The brand name that he and another employee pulled out of the deli cooler was labelled "Grandma's Homemade POTATO salad, not the "no name (made in Milwaukee Wi by Country Maid Inc) creamy green coleslaw.

The manager even went to tell me that they "opened and tasted 3 containers with different date codes), and the product tasted fine..so as far as he was concerned, it must have been a container returned by the customer OR a container that was placed on a UN-REFRIGERATED shelf and subsequently returned to the deli cooler by an employee a "while afterwards",
so I was the unlucky shopper to have picked up THAT spoiled container. he said "sorry about that, we hope we can count on your business.

Insurance company (don't know which one represents "Grandmas" or County Maid (Milwaukee) says..sorry but your claim is denied. We will send you the papers (to sign i suppose) of your claim being denied.

After hearing the store managers excuse, I hand delivered a letter (in my wheelchair) to the store courtesy desk on Saturday,
as the store manager was not working on the weekend. I picked up my prescription at their Drugstore and then went to check out who actually made this "no name" creamy green coleslaw"..lo and behold ONLY 4 CONTAINERS were still there AND they all had a date codeS of August 27th.

Where did the others go? In the garbage or did other customers buy these?

My claim for compensation (pain and suffering) for 3 days has been resubmitted on August 6th.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

gibor365 said:


> l so I was able to understand it perfectly. When I showed it to assistant manager, he said "Oh, ok, we gonna remove this product from the shelves" ... *I came 1 week later and same product was sitting on the shelves again!
> *
> In Metro , I've encountered expired diary products.
> *In Superstore several times we've bought "fresh" fish with very bad smell etc.*..


So are you saying it was so fresh it came with a bad smell?
It's like them saying,.yes it was "*fresh fish" when it was caught last month *on the fish farm and put on ice to be transported to our loading dock, where it sat there in the heat for a few hours, then put back on ice in the store.:biggrin:

The problem these days with these food chain stores is that NOBODY is willing to take responsibility for
a bad food product that could or does make their customers sick. You would have to retain that
food for independent (Food inspection agency) refrigerate while tranporting to their labs and then
waiting up to several days for the results on which pathogens are in the food. By that time you are 
probably seriously sick, and can't leave your house or gone through 3-4 days of misery taking immodium 
and probably over it the worst of it.

If you cant get to a doctor's or hospital report (provided you can even leave your house to get there,
they will deny the claim.

If you return it first like I did, they will destroy the evidence and then claim it was all good, so you the customer are LYING looking for some form of compensation from the store or their insurance company.

This is the song and dance I am getting from Loblaws now, and their insurance company.
I can persevere one more time and see how they will react the second time around but I'm
not expecting too much from them.

As far as compensation, even 50,000 PC points would satisfy me. What is that to them?
(20,000 PC points = $20 of their inflated priced food. 
$50 wouldn't even fill a grocery bag at Loblaws!


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

carverman said:


> Can't call the Public Health Dept. Loblaws store destroyed the evidence, and basically told me ..sorry but you were the ONLY one that got sick. The manager of the store phoned me last week and _denied that they were selling any containers with spoiled product_. The brand name that he and another employee pulled out of the deli cooler was labelled "Grandma's Homemade POTATO salad, not the "no name (made in Milwaukee Wi by Country Maid Inc) creamy green coleslaw.
> 
> The manager even went to tell me that they "opened and tasted 3 containers with different date codes), and the product tasted fine..so as far as he was concerned, it must have been a container returned by the customer OR a container that was placed on a UN-REFRIGERATED shelf and subsequently returned to the deli cooler by an employee a "while afterwards",
> so I was the unlucky shopper to have picked up THAT spoiled container. he said "sorry about that, we hope we can count on your business.
> ...


 ... what do you mean that you can't complain to the Public Health dep't 'cause Loblaws "destroyed" the evidence? Your purchase receipt is the evidence you bought that salad from them and your first complaint to the manufacturer is evidence you got sick from their product and so what you were the only one who got sick. Loblaws is lucky that there wasn't an outbreak after ingesting a product that wasn't properly refrigerated or was contaminated/spoiled from the manufacturer and by reporting it - you're doing them and Public Health a service. 

Or are they saying you're making things up by spending all this time and efforts to report this at $2.00 claim? Maybe Loblaws need some publicity on the their BS song and dance routine - splashed in your local newspaper ... and then it's "oh, we take these claims very seriously" ... maybe a call to Galen is warranted too.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

Sorry that happened. I have been food poisoned before (primarily due to my own doing) and its awful. Usually thigh, food posing get is 24 to 48 hours max. Not longer, just so you know. 

That being said, you can still call and should still call the public health and report them. What usually happens even if you don't have the evidence, is they will file it on record, if others all come forward, then they will deal with it.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Beaver101 said:


> ... what do you mean that you can't complain to the Public Health dep't 'cause Loblaws "destroyed" the evidence? Your purchase receipt is the evidence you bought that salad from them and your first complaint to the sn't an outbreak after ingesting a product that wasn't properly refrigerated or was contaminated/spoiled ..manufacturer is evidence you got sick from their product and so what you were the only one who got sick. *Loblaws is lucky that there wailed from the manufacturer and by reporting it - you're doing them and Public Health a service. *
> 
> 
> > That would be my reasoning as well Beav.
> ...


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Plugging Along said:


> Sorry that happened. I have been food poisoned before (primarily due to my own doing) and its awful. *Usually thigh, food posing get is 24 to 48 hours max. Not longer, just so you know. *


*

Thigh food posing? Now I haven't heard about that! :biggrin: 

Mine went on for 3.5 days (from Monday 11am approx to Thursday noon approx and the only way to alleviate this was doing a BRAT diet (first heard about it from the doctor's nurse , when I called) Thursday (July 14th); to beg for a prescription to make it stop!




That being said, you can still call and should still call the public health and report them. What usually happens even if you don't have the evidence, is they will file it on record, if others all come forward, then they will deal with it.

Click to expand...

It's probably too late now PLugging. 
It started July 11th and I was over it on July 14th..(3.5 days and numerous times to my special elevated motorized toilet seat.\..totally dehydrated, couldn't eat for about 3 days.
Also, couldn't take a chance to leave my house during those 3.5 days as I can no longer use a regular height toilet due to my leg/knee muscles wasted away due to an auto-immune disease.

I am in a wheelchair now all the time, except for sleeping.
If I fall down on floor or ground, I can NO LONGER get up by myself any more
have to call 911 Lift assist. :topsy_turvy:

Had to do that when I fell off my scooter on Thursday (July14th) crashing into a pipe barrier at a speed bump
on my scooter going to Loblaws to hand deliver typed letter to store manager, 
while up pretty much all night due to food poison symptom, then half asleep not watching where I'm going
over speed bump, (too close to gas meter protective bars) and trying to get out of way of delivery truck at speed bump.
Scooter crashed into bars, broke scooter tiller, fell out of scooter (no seat belt), and could not get back
onto scooter while bleeding from left hand wound and several cuts/abrasions on both knees...

but I was lucky I guess..didn't crack my old melon..I'm still here typing away on CMF.:biggrin:*


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## sags (May 15, 2010)

Good grief Carverman, you need to be safe.

I believe you live on your own and are fiercely independent, but could you not sell the house and move into a regular apartment full of seniors, so help is a few steps away ?

We have lots of such buildings.........that developers built primarily for seniors, and they know and look out for each other.

One such complex has a mall with a grocery store, drug store and other amenities next to the entrance road.


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## Plugging Along (Jan 3, 2011)

carverman said:


> Thigh food posing? Now I haven't heard about that! :biggrin:
> 
> Mine went on for 3.5 days (from Monday 11am approx to Thursday noon approx and the only way to alleviate this was doing a BRAT diet (first heard about it from the doctor's nurse , when I called) Thursday (July 14th); to beg for a prescription to make it stop!
> 
> ...


Again, I am sorry that happened. Like I said, I have food poisoned myself, maybe through (chicken) thighs, and it's awful. Yours sounded so much worst. I think reporting it to the public health way not get you a claim, but it may cause an investigation. It may be lat snow, or they may bnot do anything unless others have called.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

sags said:


> Good grief Carverman, you need to be safe.
> 
> I believe you live on your own and are fiercely independent, but could you not sell the house and move into a regular apartment full of seniors, so help is a few steps away ?


Don't want to. Read on. 
If I moved into these LTC retirement homes..at the monthly rates they charge, i would be out of money (from the residual of the sale of my house in 5 and a half years..then what?

Gov't pensions don't pay enough to be able to live in these assisted living places these days,
and once my house equity is used up (assuming I have at least 10 yrs left of living), 
I would be put into a cheap gov't subsidized hospital care facility retirement home, where you have to share a room with somebody suffering from dementia or other worse things, like screaming
in their sleep...in a bed next to me?

no thanks..I'd rather go (if I even could) for the assisted suicide option. 



> We have lots of such buildings.........that developers built primarily for seniors, and they know and look out for each other.
> One such complex has a mall with a grocery store, drug store and other amenities next to the entrance road.


Yes,I know of a lot of them, but they all cost BIG MONEY..a lot more than what it costs me to live in my own home and have a personal service worker help me out twice a week. 

Besides my Nortel pension has been wound up. This fall, there will be webinars so we can find out how much,
(or how little), they will still continue paying..through a LIF or annuity. 
Can't make any long term plans until I know how much pension I will be still receiving next year and afterwards.

Besides, weak as I am, I still enjoy the local nature trails here in Ottawa on my scooter. Carry a emergency cell phone with me in case I fall off and need 911 ambulance to pick me back up and put me on the scooter.:biggrin:

yes,I still want to live independently, like get on the scooter,go into my back yard,water the flower beds and fill the bird feeder every morning and feed my cats. 

Tried one in February this year when I got out of the Ottawa heart institute (required a pacemaker and cauterizing a serious bleeding stomach ulcer), lasted only 3 days...the retirement home had a lot of residents with various stages of dementia and the staff didn't look after me when I was so weak i could barely stand from my wheelchair. 

Then they shoved some papers for me to sign ($950 per week)..ya right, I would have to pay them $3800 a month for their lack of care when I needed it. Checked myself out after the first weekend there. 

Called my neighbour with a truck to return my motorized toilet lift seat and other personal stuff in the room. 

Parataxi drove me and my wheelchair home. Called my neighbour to help me get on the two stair lifts I have. Called an home care agency to send a personal service worker 3hrs per day x 7 days a week for the first month. I've tapered that off until now I'm down to 2 days per week, Monday/Fridays for 2 hrs each time and at my own expense.


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