This cheese is cheesy

[fred mertz]

I´ve been buying Finlandia "light" cheese made by La Serenisima for years. I never had a problem and practically licked the containers. For about the last 6 months it seems that about about 15% of the containers´ contents look discolored and have a not too fresh smell. The expiration date of the cheese that I threw out, yesterday, was 3 weeks hence.
I wonder if they take old cheese and put it in new containers before they fill them with fresh cheese? " We use old cheese and we raise the price!"
As I think more about this, I always wonder why there are several layers of expiration dates on this company´s Port Salut labels?
Is this company listed on the NYSE? Might be a good investment.

 

[syngirl]

Where do you buy your Finlandia? Be careful with small supermarkets... a lot of the time their dairy cases are not kept as cold as they should be, and if the power goes off -- even for hours -- they'll still go ahead and sell the products.

When I buy anything dairy I'm the jerk that moves all the products out of the way and takes the one way way way at the back of the case -- and if anything feels less than cold I don't buy it.

 

[MizzMarr]

I'd wonder about the market you're buying from if you do buy from one place regularly... I buy Finlandia light from a few different places and haven't had any problems (although sometimes the texture varies... sometimes it's more creamy than others). I'm with Syngirl, though, pick from the back of the case!

 

[davonz]

if its near the bottom of the container.. could be that the container has been sat on something warm and the bottom has started to ripen/ferment again.. is this cheese a soft/cream or hard cheese ?

 

[Pumssi]

Anyone know why it's Finlandia? It's definitely not from finland!

Anyway, I like the same cheese but mine have been alright. I try to take them from the back of the case as well.

 

[Davidglen77]

Argentina's food safety rules are pretty strict. I deal with expiration dates every day at my store and know many products have short shelf life. Certain large companies (Arcor, Serenisima, LaCasa Chocolates, etc. accept expired merchandise returns for a credit and others won't. You end up throwing it away if it goes past the date. I often wonder what happens to that returned merchandise. I've asked the salespeople and they tell me they have no idea what's done with it.
What I do is remove items for sale that are close (within a week or two) to expiration and save them for the cartoneros or kids that ask for handouts. Don't give expired or old questionable food to homeless people, first it's not nice, buy and cook only what you need and use leftovers promptly. Secondly there was a case here where a homeless person got sick from some expired food they were given, filed a lawsuit against the person that gave it to them and was paid a large sum of money by the court.

 

[fred mertz]

The plot thickens.
I also buy yogurt at this private (non ethnic) Retiro market. Even though the yogert and the Finlandia (is all "Philadelphia" cheese from Philadelphia? That´s a city in the U.S.) are placed on upper "refrigerated " shelves, I´ve never had a problem with yogert. Possibly, the Finlandia needs a colder spot? The Disco on Rodriguez Pena keeps their Puro Sol orange juice on an upper "refrigerated" shelf. The Disco on Quin-
tana has the juice where you have to reach down to get the bottle. The juice at RP spoils very fast; never a problem at Q. Live and learn. Thanks all.

 

[starlucia]

Speaking of the chinos and their questionable dairy-storage practices:

http://www.clarin.com/ciudades/capi...-chip-heladeras-super-chinos_0_492550865.html

 

[syngirl]

Thanks for the article -- I don't suspect my chino of turning off the power at night -- what I can confirm however is I've been in the various chinos near me many times when the fridges are off, something is being repaired, in 35 degree heat and the products just sit there on the shelf warming up the entire time -- and then a couple of hours later when they're finished with repairs they just turn them back on and that's that. I have seen this many times over the years I've lived in my neighbourhood.

I've also seen many the pack of cheese sitting in the cases weeks past their best before dates -- always check the dates in other words.