IGA is like the friend you can only do small doses of. You’d text them “happy birthday”. You’d moan to them about your job. You’d even catch up with them for the occasional drink. They’re a trusty friend, but never a permanent fixture.
And I mean, at this point ducking into IGA for something last minute is effectively a rite of passage in Australian culture. Whether that be for an iced coffee on a boiling hot day. A half priced roast chicken before you go watch Talk To Me (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it). Or buying some bread and brie because you, absolutely did not at all forget that your friends are coming over in 10 minutes for a wine and cheese night.
But, as it turns out, this friendship with IGA might not be so drama-free after all.
The operator of an IGA store in Canberra has been fined a total of $16,500 for label tampering and breaches of food health and safety laws. The ruling came after several complaints had been made by customers about IGA’s East Row store intentionally selling food after its expiry date.
The stores operator, Rising Wood Pty Ltd was prosecuted in the ACT Magistrates Court and the company’s director, Abdullah Osman pleaded guilty to nine breaches of the ACT Food Act.
The CCTV footage shown in court showed staff removing best before stickers and replacing them with new dates. Magistrate James Lawton also said an employee of the corporation had been rubbing off best before dates on drink products and transferring expired bread into new packaging. It is also believed the staff were using acetone to assist them in removing the dates.
Hopefully this doesn’t make you spit out your coffee but the foods that were caught up in this drama were… drum roll please…
Cheese, dips, sour cream, olives, jars of gherkins, corn relish and soft drinks.
And honestly, I’m just feeling bad for that jar of gherkins. Those poor innocent beauties who just wanted to die a peaceful death in the bin. A moment’s silence…
Environmental Health Officers from ACT Health Protection Services also found that the store had been preparing food in an unsanitary room with no hand-washing facilities, washing or sanitising equipment. (Cue the second spit out of coffee for the morning).
This is also not the first time IGA has been fined for actions like this, with Willetton IGA in Perth previously being fined $11,000 in 2016 for also selling expired food.
Upon discovering this news this morning, I felt for a moment like Regina George in Mean Girls. Like all my friends had betrayed me and had been ruining my life behind my back.
So, as it turns out, our trusty friend IGA, might not be so trusty after all. If IGA were a person, I would be texting them “We’re done”.
But I’m all for forgiveness so all is not lost yet. If they learn from this and stop doing it, then we can be friends again. Keep flinging us those discount roast chickens and (in date) gherkins, and everything will be back to normal.
