Freezers off at night?!

[sesamosinsal]

I've been told it's a myth as well. Perhaps it happened in a few places, but I'd say it's probably not the norm. I've never been sick after eating dairy products (or any other product) from the so called "chinos." I have, however, come down with something after eating chicken from Coto. Twice. The first time I thought it was just me getting sick.

It's simply not very wise for them to risk selling you food that has gone bad. Sure, sometimes it happens by mistake, and in my experience they promptly refunded my money or allowed me to choose a different product. But the competition is fierce. I have three "chinos" within two blocks, and I feel that this is the case in most areas of CapFed. If one is selling spoiled milk, it won't take long before everyone figures it out and starts going to another.

And who wants to wait a couple years in line at Disco, Coto or Carrefour? The "chino" supermarkets are 1000x more efficient. The people who run them have a very different mentality. They open the other register when the line starts to get backed up. They get you in and out. Sometimes you pay more in the "chinos," but as far as I'm concerned, they deserve it for providing me with a better shopping experience.

 

[Amplexus]

Indeed . And have you ever tried the pre-cooked 'food' from Coto or Carrefour ? Yuck ! And the other day I went to Carrefour with my two kids to do some shopping with some US dollars the wife had . The stuff I bought came to over 50 percent of a US 100 dollar note . But they tried to insist I spend at least 70 percent of it in order to change it . What's that about ? I just left it all at the check-out !

 

[Crema Americana]

I've heard of this rumor as well.. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but I've heard it enough that I'm not going to chance it. You definitely have to be careful with dairy products anywhere. (Worst milk I ever bought was in the US. At least you can usually tell when it's gone bad!) When it comes to food poisoning I'd rather stay on the safe side. We only buy long life milk.

The rumor may have come from when chinos were relatively new or perhaps from more dubious ones (I can attest to the fact that some do sell stale goods.) In any case, I wonder about some of the small Argentine stores as well. Quality in general is not the best here and you have to be careful.

 

[AngelinBA]

Our doorman told us not to even consider buying dairy products for our kids from the shop across the road because they turned their fridges off at night. This was not a Chino, but was a small minimarket (now taken over by Carrefour). I think the rumour isn't about Chinos in particular, just about small minimarkets in general (of which a lot of them are run by Chinos!). Having said that, I did purchase milk from the minimarket for years without any problem. I did have to return bread and pizza bases on various occasions because they were mouldy but we never got sick from the milk(thank goodness!).

 

[surfing]

Just be aware that food contamination is not always visible to the eye --- or detectable by the nose. I agree with the point that the area of concern is all mini-type markets --- not just those owned by Asians. Food safety is nothing to be taken lightly; Don't take unnecessary risks with your health.

 

[davonz]

You definitely have to be careful with dairy products anywhere. (Worst milk I ever bought was in the US. At least you can usually tell when it's gone bad!) When it comes to food poisoning I'd rather stay on the safe side. We only buy long life milk.

I hate to tell you this but the milk here is ultra-pasteurised milk, the same thing as uht... And i havent seen anything other than ultra-pasteurised milk here in the 1lt plastic bags.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasteurization:

"High-temperature, short-time (HTST) pasteurized milk typically has a refrigerated shelf life of two to three weeks, whereas ultra-pasteurized milk can last much longer, sometimes two to three months. When ultra-heat treatment (UHT) is combined with sterile handling and container technology (such as aseptic packaging), it can even be stored unrefrigerated for 6 to 9 months."

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the bags are warm when you get them from the fridge at the supermarket... its because they come from the factory without refrigeration. In colombia you can buy the plastic bags from the fridge or off the self - the exact same bags of milk. I havent seen this here though.
However as with most things here, the quality of the manufacturing process can effect the self-life. I have never purchased milk that has been off, but a couple of times it has gone off within a couple of days of opening...

Things like yoghurt are ok too.. Yoghurt and cheese are rotten milk anyways, made to go off by bacteria - just hopefully no bad bacteria got into the mix.. When i lived in vanuatu, all processed dairy products were imported from NZ, a boat trip of a couple of weeks. So often the yoghurt, cheese etc was way outside sell by dates - not just a few days, but weeks and sometimes months.. And they wouldnt throw away, it would stay on the self until sold.. Never had any problems with it though.

Even red meat is ok if a little old. When we killed a beast we would hang overnight from the front-end loader before cutting up, and then put into a fridge for a couple of weeks before eating or freezing. It lets the meat rot slightly, which breaks down the fibers in the meat and makes it tender. As soon as something dies (including us) the enzymes in the blood start to break down the body. Thats why we bleed out animals - to slow down this process..

Fish, chicken and pork is a whole differnt story and i would keep away from if not cold, looks not perfect, smells or in doubt..

I actually think most of the supermarkets here have poor hygiene levels and have alot of old/off products (mostly fruit/veges) on selfs. And people dont seem to care.

 

[Ashley]

I don't think its the norm. I've had a couple of bad experiences; once with a within its use-by date chocolate dessert that had obviously not been refrigerated adequately and had gone off and another time with ice-lollies that had obviously been frozen then thawed, then frozen (you could tell by the shape and the ice-crystals).
To be honest though, I've seen past its used-by date stuff in coto, I've found baby cockroaches running over packets of pasta sauce (again, in coto) and a massive stack of near-liquid avocados in Jumbo that were a complete heath hazard.

 

[el_expatriado]

I heard that the chinos do this also from many different people. My wife (she's Argentine) only buys leche larga vida from the Chinese supermarkets and won't buy regular dairy products from there.

 

[French jurist]

Gastroenteritis para todos!

I have this problem with the small almacen nearby my house, and the owners are not Chinese.
Problem in this case: They break the cold chain when they bring back frozen products to the store. After being sick a few times I understood (frozen pizzas were not flat anyway, proof that they unfroze at some point during transportation to the local store).
They also take away the expiry date stickers.

 

[erian]

Why would you shop with dollars?