In a shocking turn of events, a reputable Kimberley supermarket has come under scrutiny, as it has been revealed that preservative-free Pomegranate Juice from the 2022 harvest was lost for more than a year and had expired before being discovered in the storeroom in 2024. Shockingly, the expired product was then restocked on the store shelf twice.
A customer who bought the product on Sunday, 4 February 2024, without realizing it had expired on 12 November 2023, discovered the issue while discarding the glass bottle on Monday evening, 5 February. Having used the expired juice to make jelly, the concerned customer, unable to return to the store immediately, promptly submitted a customer care report just after midnight due to persistent worry.
The customer noted that the store had experienced a prolonged period of being out of stock, as she diligently checked the shelves frequently over the past couple of months. Consequently, her surprise was palpable when she encountered the shelves restocked and proceeded to purchase the product without feeling the need to check the expiry date, assuming it was “freshly” restocked. However, her current concern arises from the realization that the supposedly “new” stock placed on the shelves had already expired the previous year in 2023.
Contrary to the supermarket’s assurances that the expired juice was promptly removed from the shelf upon notification, further investigation revealed that some potentially hazardous expired products were still on the shelves on 11 February. The consultant agency claims that the product was initially removed from the shelf and was subsequently restocked with more expired juice from the storeroom.
The supermarket’s media consultant agency stated that there was a failure in their protocols, attributing the oversight to a lack of checks by store staff and a mishandling of stock in the storeroom. The incident has been addressed by senior management to reinforce protocols and prevent a recurrence.
Questions about the storage conditions, the number of units discarded, and the absence of stock from the 2023 harvest remain unanswered. The manufacturer of the juice expressed concerns about restocking outdated products when a fresh harvest had been available on store shelves since August 2023.
Additionally, speculation arises regarding the supermarket’s stock management practices, as the absence of the 2023 harvest on the shelves may imply that the store refrained from ordering fresh stock due to the system indicating units in stock.
Concerns persist that if the customer had not returned in-house branded cold meat, which had mould and wasn’t set to expire for another month, purchased the following Sunday, 11 February, the expired juice product might still have been on the shelf today. During the same visit, the customer discovered more juice products that had expired the previous day, including one juice shot with its expiry information label torn off.
This incident has raised concerns about supermarkets’ commitment to ensuring the safety and quality of products on their shelves. Customers are now questioning the reliability of the store’s stock management, emphasizing the need for vigilance in going beyond just checking expiration dates, even in seemingly reputable establishments.