My Life In Brooklyn

[Note: Repost from my former blog, originally posted March 2006]

If you read my prior post on Associated Market here on Flatbush Ave., located just south of Fenimore Street on the west side of the street, you might recall I made mention of a number of problems encountered at that store. Among other issues in this market was the Problem of White Glue used to seal a five-pound bag of sugar. This, in theory, might not be the best method but it could have worked if the staff had the foresight to set it aside to fully dry overnight. Instead, it was probably applied and immediately placed on the shelf where my husband picked it up, purchased it and brought it home to sweeten his morning coffee. Only to end up with wet and dripping white glue on his fingers. It was pretty disgusting.

On Friday I purchased a few items from this very same Associated. It takes me forever to shop there because I feel compelled to look over each item with careful scrutiny. I bought maybe a dozen items in all, but as I entered the store I noticed what appeared to be a recent shipment of bananas, fresh and unscathed. These bananas, by the way, are packaged in plastic bags that are in part clear, but also marked. So the consumer is able to turn the package upside down to view the bananas, but not see the top with real clarity due to the packaging. I probably should have recognized it as a warning sign to move on when I picked up a small bunch of bananas and noticed they were quite hot. Maybe from shipment — sitting in a delivery truck all day could do that.

Ultimately I bought a modest bunch of five bananas in in what seemed to be decent condition and of normal temperature. Imagine my surprise on Saturday morning when I removed one to slice into the morning Total and saw what appeared to be a peculiar gash on one of the bananas beneath it.

Now, normally I would have just thought there was just a bad one in the bunch and maybe felt some minor annoyance that I had overlooked it, too bad for me. However something about this banana caught my eye, specifically the glossy area around the mark itself. Examining this area closer, it was clear there was some kind of coating covering the injured banana area. I suspect white glue.

The photo was taken in my kitchen with available light, no flash. You can see the transparent glossy coat of “something” covering the banana wound. Now is it me or is this just a little scary? Not knowing what efforts have been taken to “repair” broken food before you buy it bothers me. In other places where I have lived, slightly off or injured items were placed on the day-old rack and seriously discounted. Really, they saved how much with this effort? Probably pennies, and in return they have earned an even greater negative attitude from me. It makes me wonder what else is going on behind closed doors if this the usual procedure. Is this typical? I have never seen such a thing in any other grocery store, and I have been to plenty of different stores.

I can’t resist mention of this.  It isn’t that I am negatively obsessed with Associated Market on Flatbush, after all there have been plenty of intermittent incidents of a bad product here and there in my many years of grocery shopping.  However, never so many within a relatively short span of time and at the same location.

Yesterday, I went to buy a salad mix for a last minute dinner, and there were lots of them available — a couple dozen at least.  However most of them had expired two days prior and everything else (maybe 25% of the total number available) had an expiration day of yesterday.

I found the manager and alerted him to the fact his entire stock of packaged salads were in fact outdated, or would be upon the closing of the store for the day.

“Ok, I told them,” was the response I received as he got away from me as quickly as possible. 

I bet if I walked over there this morning, these products would still be on the shelf.

Whenever I shop at this store, which for the record is located on Flatbush, I feel I am in a Salvation Army food store.  By this I mean thrift shop food — slightly used or battered products, caveat emptor. And yet I shop there because — well, it is there.  And so do hundreds of other people otherwise it wouldn’t exist.

I don’t fully understand how the demographics of grocery product distribution and pricing works, though based on my observations I am certain it exists.  You need only compare the various fliers of a major chain on any given week  to see variations between neighborhoods. Based on the products I have personally encountered in the local Associated, my imagination envisions new deliveries to the store as actually rerouted discards of stores from our more affluent neighborhoods. These are just a few items actually seen/or recently bought in this store that immediately come to mind.

• 5 pound bag of sugar:  My husband bought this.  He brought it home and opened it to discover it had been previously opened and resealed with white glue.  The glue was wet and dripping.  We are pretty sure this task was a staff effort — anyone returning an item would have been able to get cash or credit. This was maybe a month ago, Associated exchanged it.  The manager shrugged.
• Premio Sausages, Hot Italian: a shelf full of them, outdated by several days.  Am I the only one reading shelf life dates at the market?  I pointed it out the the manager who thanked me despite the slight bristle of annoyance.  Later that day, having forgotten something, I returned to Associated once more and saw the same sausages repackaged with the generic store packaging/pricing and the bright shiny Premio label gone.  Warning: Never buy this product if it is not in the original Premio packaging with original shelf life date.
• Ben and Jerry’s Low-Fat Frozen Yogurt:  We bought a pint of Cherry Garcia and opened it to see the level of the contents shriveled by nearly an inch and the entire surface an interesting topography of dimunitive frozen chrystal stalagmite.  Problably had been well melted and refrozen.
• Frozen Green Beans, Associated Brand: Okay, its the holidays and one must negotiate time with convenience.  So I opened the package of frozen Associated green beans and was pouring them into a microwavable dish when I noticed a Peculiar Thing that Did Not Belong was among frozen greenery.  A two inch frozen beetle.  Really. I mean I know this could have happened at any Associated, but damn!
• Avocados: Not to forget the produce department (where I can barely stand shopping due to the various Smelly Fish and Animal Bits stored and sold in the same area).  So Avocados are “on sale” 2/$3.00 — but they are so soft I can’t imagine even a guacamole dip could be a healthy use.  Outdated produce needs to go.
• Sour Cream: Outdated by several days. I mentioned it to the dairy person who was shelving nearby and walked away.  Though I observed him spending no more than a few seconds looking at sour cream containers, in response he called out to me claiming there was only one outdated.  I didn’t see him sort through all the sour cream containers, but who knows maybe there was only one and I just attract outdated food.
• Cheddar Cheese: Another spousal foible, he forgot to check the date.  Suffice to say upon opening the package was full of a strange wet, seemingly oil-based liquid. It was very outdated and just as disgusting as it sounds.

So between Fresh Direct deliveries, I still shop at Associated.  While I want to support local business, is there any question why anyone hesitates? 

In line with my theory regarding the existence of a dual grocery products distribution center [where higher quality items get delivered to neighborhoods of a certain demographic profile;  lesser quality items end up in my own neighborhood]; I offer yet another Associated of Flatbush entry.  We have been using Thomas’ bagel squares for sandwiches lately because — well we can actually purchase them in this neighborhood.  I am talking limited choices here.

So having bought a bag of six, there was something notably different about the bagel squares in the new bag.  Having one last bagel square in the old bag at hand I compared the two — I couldn’t quite put my finger on the difference.  Viewing the two side by side, I soon realized:

The “new” bagels squares are much smaller than those in the last bag.  Unfortunately this photo does not represent how much thinner the bread is too.  Trust me, the one on the right is significantly smaller than the other. Either Thomas’ is cutting costs by suddenly deciding to reduce product size, or – yet again — Associated Market on Flatbush gets lesser quality / seconds to sell.  Substandard items, but at the same retail price, of course.

I might need to write to the company.  I don’t care about the excess carbs in a piece of bread, but it would be interesting to know.

Another Associated story, I know it is my own fault for patronizing the place.

This time a quick trip to Associated market on Flatbush Avenue for a jar of Barilla pasta sauce, fettuccini, and a couple other items that are usually safe bets for purchase. Assuming you check expiration dates that is.

Returning home, I unpacked the groceries and noticed one more item was in the bag, which aroused my curiosity because I actually had already removed everything I bought.

Nothing says customer appreciation more than a partially eaten Tunnock’s Caramel Chocolate Wafer in your grocery bag.