More expired food at Sultan Center

FIRST POST!!!

Good thing I only hunt for chocolate and munchies… Those don’t expire quickly =P

mark the best market to get groceries is mishref co op

Thats why I always prefer City Centre. They don’t have as much variety as Sultan Centre but they have so many shoppers that they have to re-stock shelves several times a day. Its hard to end up with expired products there.

dont you guys have a baladiya there that handle these things?? cos weve had a few incidents here in oman that were reported and placed were shut down

same thing happened in DQ about 15 years ago and they were shut down and banned from Oman for the longest time. they only just reopened less than a year ago

LOOOOOOOOL – well wa9leen 3indna. We have three or four Sultans here and another 15 opening by end of 2009

Did any of you see the Philedelphia cream cheese display? It was a neat looking pyramid, but it was no where near a fridge. I was pissed off enough to call the manager over and show him the “refridgerate” label on the product.

You are correct, till when are they gonna get away with selling us expired food. For crying out loud it is Baladiya Guidelines 101.

I go back for the chocolate lucky charms!

But seriously, I go back because I am a loyal customer. I am trying my best as a loyal customer to improve Sultan instead of bailing out. Now if this keeps happening and they don’t show any sign that they are trying to improve or fix things then I would leave.

I always find expired stuff when I shop there. I always bring it to the attention of the staff there too. Last time, I went to get hot dogs for my son and all of the brand that we buy was expired, about 15 packages. They said, "Sorry , Madame, it is Ramadan and there is a lot of stuff now"??? What the heck does that mean?
Anyway, I shop there because they have stuff that I like, and it is close by, although their prices are exorbitant! Seems like we are always lining someone’s pocket here.

this maybe a little trivial compared to the above worrying comments but something also has to be done about the bunches of little, filthy, foul mouthed brats ( i am actually being polite here) that hang around in the salwa branch. I have been insulted, heard other women heckled and witnessed stones thrown at cars, avoided thrown shoes and catapults……………when i complain to the mangement, they just say they cannot do anything. Has anyone else found this to be extremely annoying, insulting and frightening or am i just a grumpy old woman with little tolerance?

well, I have to think twice before I buy from them !!

iam working there 🙂 sorry i wont tell you in wich department. I don’t know from where to start but really i know everything what happen inside the stores all of them the same every single day iam catching expired food rotten etc.. here is the Tip all those ppl whos working there have low salary 18 years in service and hes/shes getting only 180 KD !! ( after increasing ) i saw a chocking list salary. Guys for sure they will not care about the products ( `7aleeh ywali mali sho`3ol ) a lot of them they are telling that coz they want to make problem fo the store manager they are not getting a decent life there i feel pity on them. It a big story enough for u to know that

hilaliya is right there is Consumer protection (7mayat il mostahlak) and there becoming more and more strict in Q8. Someone call 135 and tell them about this problem and see what happens. There becoming strict about the service charge in resturants too, it turns out that in Q8 theres no such thing if they add a service charge in Q8 tell them to take it off the bill if they dont just call 135 and they will deal with the problem…as ive been told 😛

Sultan center deserve this, it is about time, it has been going on for years. And believe me, I personally know people very very close to the owners who have delivered my messages and complaints (listed below) and the owners dont seem to care. For shame. I am about to leave a harsh comment and I hope they read this – as I know they read your blog Mark and Nat.

1. I bought a box of raisins that were one week away from expiry and they were COVERED IN MOLD still in their package

2. I bought expensive Italian Buffala mozzerella cheese THAT HAD BEEN EXPIRED FOR TWO WEEKS. This has happened to me 3 TIMES.

3. I bought a can of refried beans a few years ago, only to find that they had lard (pork fat) in them. I quietly went up and told the management what was in the cans and since this was an Islamic country it could be a big problem if someone else jumped on it and exposed them, especially as there are members of the Sultan family who are publicly and politically SALAFI MUSLIMS AND EXTREMELY RELIGIOUS. They took the cans off the shelves only to put them back on 3 days later when I returned. I went up again and said what the hell is wrong with people to the manager. The cans of refried beans were taken off and apparently the word got around among employees that some mad anti- lard in beans lady was on the rampage ( believe me, i am no Islamic saint here, ok?).

4. I found frozen meals in the fridge section, already well and long defrosted and that were apparently out for days when they were supposed to be frozen. I told one of the section managers.. He told me they were supposed to be refrigerated. I flipped the Healthy Choice box over and showed him where it clearly said: KEEP FROZEN. He proceeded to tell off and berate the poor indian gentlemen stocking the shelves, and had him PUT THEM BACK IN THE FREEZER – meals already very very likely spoiled and full of harmful bacteria. I was disgusted. Sultan is unacceptable dirty and shameless.

5. THE ICE CREAM HAS ALWAYS BEEN MELTED AND REFROZEN!! ALWAYS

6. They are known among Baladeya insiders to be the WORST OFFENDERS of food health safety and MOST CORRUPT in terms of wasta and bribes.

Shame on you TSC. I stopped shopping at your store long ago. If it means not buying my usual US snacks and stuff from you – well, I just love Amazon grocery and am lucky enough to have people in the states who send me what I want, and go enough times throughout the year to bring back what I want.

Shame on you TSC.

I’ve never had a problem with Sultan Center food. I think most supermarkets have expired food and we don’t even realise. My lcal jamiya does it all the time. I think some people seem to be on a cruade against the outlet. As someone points out, why not go to the consumerr standards board first?

Agreed,well talking generally not just about specific product i.e.I had in mind food with less shelf life.Thing is that they may import stuff from U.S but sometimes they don’t find much takers so it rots on the shelf,yea like I was gonna buy that salmon stuff for that price when I got a local market for things too.Guess it all boils down to bad management and they resorting to cheating people into buying expired stuff to make a profit.

Haven’t they heard of inventory management systems? This thing is impossible unless a) they don’t own one and b) they don’t even use it ! Let’s be more critical here, you have a supermarket chain that imports great porducts, most of which probably ends up exired before it gets purchased and has an annual operating profit of that of a restaurant. Apparently they have the urge to import way too many products than that is accepted in the market. Beleive me they are more like a speicialty store rather than a supermarket. The only way they can import such a huge variety of specialty items is that they keep it on the shelf for much longer than specified. Their minced meats are steaks that werent sold in due time and you can check with the butchers. On the other hand the governement is also partially responsible. It is very difficult to import food products in Kuwait and usually the clearance takes a month. the expiry dates of the baladiya are much lesser than the product expiry, you can check that too.
Apparently there is a major in upper management because the owners have a conflict amongst each other and there is no clear head.

Giggles, the rule of filling shelves is not just about looking at the dates. You always pull out all the old stuff to the front and stock from the back, its taught at training. It helps avoid having expired items on the shelf! So what you are saying is that its okay for the staff and management to not bother, and when your child eats something and goes to hospital and has a digestive problem for the rest of their life its all okay cos they have low salaries?

– 15 packs of expired food, putting stock back 3 days later, repeatedly finding perished items? Sorry but I don’t think its just the one item being over looked somehow!

– Pantry – Its common sense to look at an item in your own house and expect to find that it may have expired but not at a supermarket!

Sorry but if I shop in a place that prices their goods at premium prices, then I expect a premium product and service and nothing less!

If he has the receipt and proof, I think hemayat al mostahlik or baladiya is the best place to go.

I would like to say that we should all make something to prevent wataniya & zain from stealing our money more.

In U.A.E, etisalat company has very low rates on week ends, & almost free international calls on holidays. Here, our mobile bills are coming very high, & when we encounter a problem & report it to them, they sell us nice words through the call center, & no follow up from their side on the problem itself.

we are full of hope that VIVA will beat them

SORRY, I did not pay attention to the date correctly. The date period
is 14-02-2008 extended to 14-08-2008. That is six (6) months and not my error of six days. Please disregard that mistake in my first item.

I am very bothered by the label in two languages and no responsible manufacturer listed. Maybe someone brought the salmon eggs in with a submarine to your shores to avoid the strict food customs inspectors.