'Stinky Chicken' from Sainsburys?

[Rachael]

There is a thread over on SE23.com about the fact that fresh meat and poultry from Sainsburys seems to go off very quickly and well before the sell-by date. 'Stinky chicken' is apparently an all too common experience for their customers. I have sent a link to that thread to Sainsburys and wondered if folks over in SE26 have had the same experience. If there is a real problem, the more people who speak up, the better.

[Annie]

There is a culture of bullying that goes on in Sainsburys,The management want to hit targets and expect their employees to work at such a pace that mistakes happen.
But, there is also a work shy element who couldn't give a toss, other than to get out at the end of their shift.
I have seen both.

[Rachael]

Thanks for the reply, Annie, but what I am looking for is specific examples of the 'stinky chicken' phenomenon. The more people who can say it has happened to them, the more weight a complaint to Sainsburys head office will have.

[leenewham]

Again, as with Tesco I'd write to head office and point them towards these forums. They don't like bad publicity. You may get more joy doing that than by contacting the store manager.

I've never had a problem with Sainsbury's, although we don't eat much chicken and for special occasions when we do we buy meat or fish rom Billings, or we shop in the Co-operative.

[Rachael]

Lee - that's exactly what I'm doing. I've already sent the link from SE23.com to head office. Anyone who has similar experiences with the Sydenham store can post here and I will send Sainsburys the link when I have some replies.

[robin]

i've had stinky chicken from sainsburys. last time the smell made me retch, and i threw up in the kitchen bin. nice!

i think the problem is that, because of the way the meat's packaged, it ends up sitting in its own juices for way too long, especially by the time you've bought it, taken it home, and got around to cooking it. i don't know why it's particularly bad with chicken, but other meat also looks and smells pretty unappealing to me once out of the packet.

i buy my meat from billings nowadays, which doesn't seem much more expensive than sainsburys, especially with chicken. and obviously the quality's far better...

[Guachina]

Is not only the chicken that is stinky, the beef is the same. Two days ago I bought mince beef to make a puree to my 8 month old and as soon as I opened the package it smelled rank, the top layer looked ok but in the middle was off. The annoying thing was that it was their organic range so I dread to think how the cheap or basic range will be. Never again! Butchers from now on.

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[The The]

I have had the same issue a few times from both the Sydenham store and Penge store. Had to throw it away as reeks before sell by date. Too much effort to take it back for the money. Hope the powers that be see this thread. Well done rshdunlop for highlighting this and giving me a lazy way of complaining.

[Rachael]

Thanks for the replies, they are really useful. Keep them coming.

It may be that Sainsburys is not aware how widespread the problem is, because once you've opened the pack and found it to be rotten, it is hard to take it back. You can't prove you didn't leave the pack open, and you don't really want it hanging around until you get a chance to go to Sainsburys. Plus not everyone keeps their supermarket receipts. The only time I took some meat back was when the pack was still sealed and I had the receipt. Every other time (and it has been a very frequent occurrence) I have just binned the offending item and muttered under my breath as I search in my freezer for a suitable substitute.

[alywin]

I very rarely buy meat from supermarket butchers at all: I had one bad experience with Penge, some years ago, when I bought some "last day" meat from the meat counter, all bagged up and labelled. When I got it home, it was already starting to discolour. Mind you, if I bother looking hard enough, I find that in most supermarkets' prepacked meats, not just Sainsbury's. It's partly because of that that I avoid buying from them. Give me a proper butcher any day.

[leenewham]

Here is a tip. If it says on the pack that you can't freeze it, it means that it has already been frozen. A lot of meat sold 'Fresh' is previously frozen and defrosted like this. People think that buying chilled is fresher. That's not always the case.

[maestro]

Here's another tip. If the meat you've bought is smelly/discoloured, don't bin it or take it back to the store. Just put it in your rear garden and it shouldn't be too long before you can bag yourself a nice, fresh, free-range fox or cat.

[Eagle]

Has anyone been sued yet?

[gillyjp]

There is a culture of bullying that goes on in Sainsburys,The management want to hit targets and expect their employees to work at such a pace that mistakes happen.
But, there is also a work shy element who couldn't give a toss, other than to get out at the end of their shift.
I have seen both.

Well I don't know what Sainsbury's you shop in but when we do our weekly Friday night shop in the Bell Green one we have experienced a fair few employees using work time to gather together in a little huddle chatting and giggling - I refer to the ones that are, I presume, there to help relieve till congestion, get prices of unpriced goods and generally make the the shopping experience easier for the customer. I don't mean those on the tills who, with the exception of a few surly beings, actually say hello and give the impression that they are happy to be serving you.

I have often wondered where the Manager is on Friday nights letting all that happen without addressing this poor behaviour or just conveniently turning a blind eye. Not my idea of customer care - we go to Dog Kennel Hill Sainsburys when we can spare the time - an entirely different shopping experience.

[Eagle]

DKH has a more upmarket clientelle the Lower Sydenham.

[Reinex]

Right so sainsbury's in east dulwich is classier than the one in bell green and billings is the bees knees ? Has the world of sydenham gone mad ?

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[CaptainCarCrash]

How do you get a classier version of Sainsburys?

[Rachael]

I've heard back from Sainsburys about the stinky chicken etc. and they are going to do some monitoring to see if there is an ongoing problem.

[CaptainCarCrash]

There is a culture of bullying that goes on in Sainsburys,The management want to hit targets and expect their employees to work at such a pace that mistakes happen.
But, there is also a work shy element who couldn't give a toss, other than to get out at the end of their shift.
I have seen both.

Let's stick you on minimum wage and see how conscientious you become eh?

There is an old saying.

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

[Eagle]

All employees should show a positive attitude or get sacked. Plenty more out there.