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Food Information Kuwait

Uncovering the real expiry date

A reader called Omar emailed me a very startling email about his experience with Sultan Center. Now I can’t verify if this is true or not because I don’t know Omar but the pictures look pretty legit to me. This is what he had to say:

I bought two After Eight dark chocolate bars from Sultan Center last week. I opened one and after taking my first bite I almost puked. I checked the expiry date on the sticker and it said 31/10/08. I then decided to peel that sticker only to realize that Sultan had covered up the real expiry date! The chocolate had expired on June 2008! I am heading there right now to make a big scene about this, but I doubt I will get very far.

Who prints and sticks these labels, is it Sultan Center or another company does anyone know?

Update: Omar passed by Sultan Center and it seems the labels are printed by the American supplier, this is what he had to say:

Thanks for posting this Mark. After I sent you the pictures I went to Sultan and asked to meet the manager. A pleasant Indian guy came over to talk to me. He is the floor manager (working in Sultan for 9 years). I showed him the expiry date and the real expiry date underneath. He was truly shocked and not feigning. I can usually tell when people are faking. After the initial shock set in, he got extremely apologetic, saying that he�s worked here for 9 years and never came across something like this. He agreed that this is not an honest mistake and is FRAUD!

We then went to check the rest of the stock, unfortunately it was all sold out (so sadly a few more people are gonna experience moldy chocolate at its finest). The floor manager took my details and promised that the “big” manager will call me soon.

30 mins after leaving Sultan I get a call from a very apologetic, sweet talking Lebanese guy who identified himself as The Manager. He apologized a million times, and also admitted that this was not an honest mistake. However, Sultan is not the source of the fraud. Apparently the �ministry of something� here in Kuwait insists that food products come with that Arabic sticker from the source, and should be tagged before clearing customs. So the “American Food Supplies Inc. ” which provided Sultan with the chocolate (already with the sticker) is the one to blame. They have been using that company for over 10 years and are truly shocked. To prove to me they are serious they will keep me updated of the proceedings with the American supplier. He also asked me to come back so they can compensate me for my troubles (whatever that means). I will go see him tomorrow.

I must say, I was expecting complete indifference by the management, but I am pleasantly surprised that they took the matter very seriously. If the stickers really are applied by the supplier, before they reach customs, then Sultan is not the source of the Fraud. Can anyone confirm that those stickers are in fact applied before they reach customs?

After Eight

After Eight

After Eight

After Eight

52 replies on “Uncovering the real expiry date”

here in oman all items have to have stickers that say the ingredients and the expiry date in arabic since such foreign export doesnt say it in arabic and the non-english speaking locals might not know. this was forced by the ministry of health.

this is very very serious. it could result in death. these are just too many incidents happening.

HAHAHAHAHAHA this is awesome in a way. Sultan centre, the leading supermarke hates it’s customers so much it’s trying to kill them! what a conspiracy. I love this cuntry so much.

Tsk Tsk Tsk!! this is 1 in a million problem faces sultan everyday.. please check sultan private lable ( products made specially for sultan ) u’ll never make ur grocery again very very bad quality specially the frozen one customer came to me and coplaining about ( Okra from lebanon ) when i open the bag i felt so ashame contains a lot of fine sand inside + american custober brought back one box of fresh vegetable when i open it 🙂 WOW a huge culture of fungus inside …

Guys I really love 248am a lot iam addict to it. I am going to tell u something about meat department in sultan u will never know that, the story is u guys going to sultan happy to buy ur monthly grocery but u don’t know what ppl in meat department did 1st they took the expired meat and grind it and sealed it with a new expiry date and they are selling it as
( Kofta ) 2nd the steak and big pcs of meat they cut it to a slices and follow the 1st point 3rd some meats they add the mixed flavored Pepper and they sell it in the Pyrex plates as u can see in salmiya branch also Applied to chicken

Please be careful this is a msg from me who’s working there to all of you don’t buy meat from there even they have Indian and Chinese meat

Thanks for posting this Mark. After I sent you the pictures I went to Sultan and asked to meet the manager. A pleasant Indian guy came over to talk to me. He is the floor manager (working in Sultan for 9 years). I showed him the expiry date and the real expiry date underneath. He was truly shocked and not feigning. I can usually tell when people are faking. After the initial shock set in, he got extremely apologetic, saying that he’s worked here for 9 years and never came across something like this. He agreed that this is not an honest mistake and is FRAUD!

We then went to check the rest of the stock, unfortunately it was all sold out (so sadly a few more people are gonna experience moldy chocolate at its finest). The floor manager took my details and promised that the "big" manager will call me soon.

30 mins after leaving Sultan I get a call from a very apologetic, sweet talking Lebanese guy who identified himself as The Manager. He apologized a million times, and also admitted that this was not an honest mistake. However, Sultan is not the source of the fraud. Apparently the �ministry of something� here in Kuwait insists that food products come with that Arabic sticker from the source, and should be tagged before clearing customs. So the "American Food Supplies Inc. " which provided Sultan with the chocolate (already with the sticker) is the one to blame. They have been using that company for over 10 years and are truly shocked. To prove to me they are serious they will keep me updated of the proceedings with the American supplier. He also asked me to come back so they can compensate me for my troubles (whatever that means). I will go see him tomorrow.

I must say, I was expecting complete indifference by the management, but I am pleasantly surprised that they took the matter very seriously. If the stickers really are applied by the supplier, before they reach customs, then Sultan is not the source of the Fraud. Can anyone confirm that those stickers are in fact applied before they reach customs?

I am more inclined to believe that Sultan is telling the truth, and won�t actually resort to such petty business practices. Yes they are retarded when it comes to leaving expired items on the shelf, but they would not commit this kind of fraud. I am much more open to the idea that some redneck in the American supplier didn�t wanna lose money on bad stock, so decided to �help the war of terror� and get a couple of �camel fuckers� sick.

I�ll keep you all posted when I meet the Lebanese Manager tomorrow.
-Omar

P.S. Yes you don’t know me Mark, but Rita can vouch for my character 🙂

Are they serious this is AMANAh he should be ashamed in the parliment instead of shouting for bringing the Star academy guys let him watch his supermarket he will get more 7asanat

Its known that the sultan centre has mishshapes done deliberatley not in order to reduce costs or inventory storage, yet to purchase from the supplier at a lower cost due to near expiration or expiry date which they can re label and sell. They’ve got various other problems and legal obligations with their Chicken farms which they give hormones just to grow, honestly its a reputable family and are very good but when it comes to business they are down right dirty, they’d maximize profits on other peoples health and income no compromises what so ever.

Hell they even paid only half of the souk shark cost to the builder, they got into legal term and had them to pay another one million to close this suite.

I’d stick to the local co-ops

haha i feel sorry for “the spy”. Everything hes trying to say is false. Poor guy. The Sultan Center does not sell expired items. This was just an honest mistake. Its nice to see how people jump to conclusions so quickly. If youve experienced buying expired food at the sultan center then just go and consult them and say “hey, this is expired. Whats the story?”

The Spy….I truly dont know what to think of you…You work for those people- your paycheck comes from them…and that’s what they get back from you? Please explain yourself?!

It’s a conspiracy, the Carrefour people are sabotaging Sultan Center goods and posting pictures online to drive them out of business 😛

Areej yeah you are 100% right they pay me but should i shut my mouth should i not say the truth iam flexable in everything except food i wish iam one of
( al baladiya guys ) Wallah i will show no mercy if there is wasta iam ready 🙂

The “best before” date may be different from the expiry date (there’s usually some extra time built in anyway). The customer should choose if he/ she wants to eat something after the “best before” date – but it shouldn’t be on shelves!

Import regulations specify that there must be an ingredient listing and production and expiry dates in English and Arabic.

The local agent that is importing the goods usually has an agreement with the manufacturer or consolidator to print and paste stickers on the product BEFORE it gets on the ship to Kuwait – otherwise it will not clear Baladiya inspection and will be destroyed or held at port.

In some cases if a product gets to kuwait without stickers, they local agent can (after proving dates) put the stickers on before taking it out of port – but that requires a lot of extra hassle and ‘wasta’

If Sultan has something on the shelves that it past its printed expiry date, that is their fault. But if the supplier is screwing around with the dates, it isn’t Sultan’s fault! If I was them, I would blacklist the supplier!

How is it not their fault?! Sultan center is supposedly a reputable supermarket that alot of people shop at. They have a responsibility to their customers to check their products and make sure they arent selling expired products! or products that are tampered with in any way. And they have sold expired products in the past..LOTS OF THEM.
Yes they may not be committing fraud but they are damn sure negligent. There are far too many incidents for them not to know about it. And even if there werent any incidents happening…dont they have some sort of quality control over this sort of thing! Seriously a major supermarket cant check expiry dates…thats just ridiculous and shows they are only concerned with piling up the cash at the expense of our health.

Unfortunatley stuff like this is happening every day and not just in Kuwait. Specially with meat there is BIG money to be made … so expired meat is grinded and sold again. There where serveral scandals in Germany regarding this … I am always very carefull when buying anything here… specially meat, fish and dairy products. You can not really protect yourself against fraud like this (who has a lab at home to test all their food)… but your nose and taste buds are a very good indicator…

I had an thought when i was reading this. American is a big comapny/ supplier in Kuwait. If they are making this fraud with a small chocolate bar. How about their restaurant KFC, Krispy Kreme and other. Are they using expeired date products? Is the chocolate filling in the Donuts expeired? Or is the chicken old? hmm I need to know…… will think about it next time i order….

Shopa, expired food can make you very sick and can definitely KILL YOU, especially if you are very old/young or have other existing health issues which will make matters worse.

Shopa – okay I will find you a bag of expired mussels and oysters, you eat them and after you leave hospital tell me that if you did not seek medical assistance you would not have died or had any form of intolerance from certain types of foods for the rest of your life. Are you sure you want to chance it? Killed or not do you want to go through a bout of food poisoning? – I am not talking about just taking a bad s**t here!

TheSpy – not sure what your circumstances (job/life) are but appreciate you are posting. Although reporting it to your management maybe a bad idea, lets face it folks if TheSpy becomes a whistleblower do you think they will let TheSpy continue workiing? Even in Europe whistleblowers don’t get much protection from the corporations or even the government! Unless you have a high position in TSC, be quiet – save your own ass! Where you can help out, then help, otherwise leave it to the consumers!

RainQ8 TheSpy can tell them about whats going on anonymously. I am sure they have that sort of thing, hell my agency has that sort of thing and we are an ad agency. We have a phone number we can call in case we have anything fishy to report and its completely anonymous. Worst case TheSpy can always email management from a fake gmail account or something. No excuse for staying quiet on something like this.

TheSpy words are not legible bcoz if they r so, he should have made a move or complain to “baladeya”

the problem is all from the “arabic label” put on products,, it irritates me by hiding the useful information, plus not everybody in this country can read arabic.

we r living in a camp,, not country

Hi Mark,

Thanks for this post. I am very disgusted with what has happened to Omar. When i was in Kuwait i was dealing with many American food related companies and never have i seen this happening. American food companies are very particular about this issue.
There are also instances that arabic labels are put on the products locally(although i cant truly verify this). It will be interesting to see what will be the response of TSC if Omar tells them that he accepts their apology but wants to go one step further. He wants to approach the american chamber of commerce and the embassy and possiblty the company supplying this product directly to tell them about this gross negligence. wonder what their response will be

People, If the local distributor of After 8 chocolates stuck a misguided Arabic label, the TSC is as much a victim as the consumer!

This is how far low Kuwait has stooped.. I’m sure the corruption has without a doubt played a hand in this. Its criminal, weather its criminal negligence or fraud, its still a crime.
its not the first nor will it be the last time it happens..
I suggest we should purposely look for and buy expired food from sultan then call police, baladiya, most importantly the newspapers, especially all the new newspapers, they’re all looking for exclusive stories!!!!

When non-consumable products arrive at a Kuwait customs point, they are cleared without any ado or check. All you need is an Import License and the proper invoice and CoO.

Drugs and pharmaceuticals however are not cleared through customs before importer has the OK from Drug Control Administration and after inspection AND random sample analysis of the products themselves.

Now, consumables (foodstuff) is a totally different game:

If its poultry, meat or dairy products, etc.. it should have clearance from Food Analysis Labs (also MOH), prior to release from customs and to the market shelves. Checks are run for salmonella, dangerous bacteria, etc..

If the product is packaged like (juices, chocolate, coffee, sugar, etc..), it is released immediately based on the Certificate of Origin and the Invoice content description. And here is where cheating can occur. It could be from manufacturer/supplier; it could also be a local hatch!

I really doubt that TSC will go this far by altering the expiry dates on any product. However, this is no excuse for their quality control department – – if they have one!

@shopa > expired food may not kill you but it could certainly make you very sick.. [when was the last time you ate chicken with salmonella]!

I can never get those damn stickers off and it always really pisses me off because sometimes I want to see the ingredients of the item, or the calorie intake or even how to prepare the bloody thing.
2 things need to be done: 1) the company in US who are cheating need to be cut and 2) the ministry dept that cover vital information need to be made to eat kilo upon kilo of mouldy chocolate…….

isn’t it weird how all the problems with Sultan Center started to rise once carrefour opened? because before that there weren’t that many of complaints =)

The date was covered by the sticker , but in my case i bought 2 bags of baby carrot which had the expiry date printed on them .
when i first took a bite of the carrots i realised it was 2 monthes expired and it tasted horrid. i did inform them but they never replied !

foodstuff are usually okay to use for up to THREE months after their expiry date. the taste will be different a little bit, and so for quality control reasons, manufacturers use that 3 months buffer zone. But it will be okay to eat.

The problem is… In Kuwait they are misusing that three months. here is what happens

The Co-ops remove the products from their shelves 3 months before reaching the expiry date and return them to the supplier.

Places like Sultan Center and City Center allow the sale of products that are about to expire and have already passed their expiry date but are still okay to consume. And so they allow suppliers to change the date on the product and put the “real” expiry date.

Now, It is illegal by law to change the date. And some products MUST have expiry date… yet it is a fact that some food don’t really expire (like pickles and other herbs).

Anyhow, the misuse shows when suppliers exaggerate with the date changing.. same as that chocolate bar case.

Instead of having suppliers and shopping centers go through this.. they should find new ways for suppliers to sell their products that passed their expiry date but are still okay to consume. For example in the US the meals they serve in jails are all expired but safe to consume by humans1

There is a difference between best before and use by dates in food products,
The term Expiry date is placed on highly perishable foods which may pose a health risk if they are used beyond that date. Even if the food still looks and smells OK it should be discarded after its date that was printed.
If the food has been frozen before the use by date it will still be safe to use upon defrosting, but it should then be used quickly. Use by dates are only valid for the unopened product and additional on-pack instructions should be observed e.g. use within three days of opening. Food opened on its use by date should be consumed on that day.

Best before is used on more stable products such as canned, dried and frozen foods. This date is more about quality than safety and when the date runs out it doesn’t necessarily mean the food is harmful, but there will certainly be some deterioration in appearance and taste.
I strongly recommend observing the safety dates given on packages and also point out that these dates are only valid if the product has been correctly handled and stored according to pack instructions.
I hope this has clarified the meaning of the two terms.
Regards,
Roger.

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