Food Lion never recovered from Primetime Live! Good!

[greensinestro]

I just don't get it. I've at times read the information about the many court rulings on this issue. Yes, it was discovered that other things were edited from the undercover work and so on, but the fact remains we saw what Food Lion was doing to rank, rotting meat and to produce that should have been thrown away.

Food Lion left the South Florida area not too long after ABC was ordered to pay (then was ordered not to). I noticed they are still in North Florida, and when I visited on recently for some milk and ice, it still seemed like one of the shittiest grocery stores around. Not only that, but the personnel did not seem too friendly.

To this date, Food Lion has never denied, nor have they admitted that what we saw in that 1992 broadcast in fact or fiction. And today, they still are suffering from that broadcast.

Maybe if they owned up to what we saw, they would pick up a little more business.

[Kika]

I'm from Wisconsin, so I'm confused. What happened at Food Lion? What did they find out on Primetime Live?

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Hey, all I know is that when I buy perishables from Food Lion, they've usually already...well...perished.

So I no longer buy perishables from Food Lion. The ones around here are squalid, untrustworthy, surly, and the food selections cater to the lowest common denominator imaginable.

I quit buying meat from them sometime during the last geological age, and dairy shortly thereafter.

Yuk.

[greensinestro]

They had two ABC employees go under cover, getting jobs at Food Lion to expose unethical and dangerous food practices. One scene showed someone taking a rotten chicken and covering it in barbeque sauce to hide the smell. Or another who took nasty, rank meat and soaked it in bleach to get rid of the smell. Another employee admitted in the produce section, they would scrub off mold on a head of cauliflower, using a scouring pad, then try to sell it.

Makes you wonder what other stores are doing things like this.

[Sofar]

I've always said, beware of food-purveying establishments that have the word "food" in their name.

[erik316wttn]

They also showed eggs that were way, way past expiration still on the shelves.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Not only did the PrimeTime Live expose inform the public about the unsanitary practices they were allowing to occur, they also came under fire for labor board violations involving among other things forcing hourly employees to work off the clock.

They've picked up in my area, but that's been mainly due to their biggest competitor, Winn Dixie, leaving NC last year. They've been remodeling and upgrading stores all over their operating areas, including my area (Greensboro) which had their grand reopening a year ago June. The latest area they are revamping is the Washington DC market.

They also have issues w/management-employee relations, which I can attest to firsthand.

I can write a book about the Kitty . . . and it wouldn't be a nice one, either.

[TNT]

Even after all these years, a friend of mine still goes crazy at the mere mention of Diane Sawyer, the reporter who did that story.

A few weeks before the story aired, he made a rather large investment in Food Lion stock...

[Hempress]

There's a Food Lion in a neighboring town of mine, but I've never been there. I didn't even know about the ABC story on it. Could have been because I was nine when it aired

I get my groceries at Giant/Martin's. I love their selection, the stores are always clean, and they even have free daycare during the day for kids ages 3-9. I've never used it though because my son is only 2.

[BlaqueKatt]

actually I have the video sent out to the employees of food lion-titled "Food Lion Answers to Prime Time LIES" they went over segment by segment what was wrong with the show-interesting watch-only available to the workers/management of the stores(my copy is legit and not bootlegged either)-that show cost my husband his job, and his sotre had awards from the health department for being the cleanest/most sanitary in the city.

BlaqueKatt-who collects stuff like that

[Auto]

Every time I drive past a Food Lion, I keep going. They never disputed the substance of ABC's claims, only the network's methods for how it went aobut putting the story together -- the ABC employees who went undercover "lied" on their job applications.

I'm glad they're hurting. Serves them right.

OK, so all those supermarket chains probably do something like what Food Lion did. Are there any that are better? I heard that Harris Teeter was better. But I've never been inside one.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Every time I drive past a Food Lion, I keep going. They never disputed the substance of ABC's claims, only the network's methods for how it went aobut putting the story together -- the ABC employees who went undercover "lied" on their job applications.

I'm glad they're hurting. Serves them right.

OK, so all those supermarket chains probably do something like what Food Lion did. Are there any that are better? I heard that Harris Teeter was better. But I've never been inside one.

I've heard differing opinions on Harris Teeter. I've heard that they give their employees bonuses every 6 months, but at the same time, they don't want to pay as much for their part time help.

They're opening up another location here in Greensboro early next year. A brand new one just opened a couple of weeks ago (over 300 employees in that store alone.) I've considered applying (again) but b/c of what happened last time I applied, I'm reluctant to try again. Apparently, they are very "selective" (ie, snobbish) over who they hire (or at least that's the impression I was given by an interviewer 2 1/2 years ago.)

Most people who I know who work for them had to undergo at least 3 phone interviews, one up front and one on the computer BEFORE they can be considered. Then, if they pass all of that, they go for the drug test and have to pass the criminal background check. Then once they pass that, they're hired.

Me? I only had one interview at the DC and heard nothing back. Guess they didn't have anything for me at that time.

[thegiraffe]

DGoddess - Winn Dixie is gone there too?

In my area, we have about 6 Publix stores in about a 2-mile radius, 1 Albertson's (still there only because it's 24-hours), and 1 winn-dixie that's on its way out. We have one of those walmart neighborhood market thingies too, but I've never been in there. Working for publix, that's the only store I'll go to. Goodings (who was bought out by winn-dixie) hasn't been here for about 10 years, same as food lion. I don't think I was ever in a food lion (too young, perhaps), though I remember my dad CONSTANTLY telling my nana to not buy food from there. We'd go to her house and throw out half her fridge because it was all rank and bad. She still doesn't pay attention to expiration dates, but at least now she doesn't buy them bad.

[Zombi]

My store is pretty icky - I had a lady come through with a cauliflower that had a rotten bit on it, so I said "This one's not very nice, did you want a different one?", to which she replied "Well, they're all like that, so I'll just cut that part off".
One rotten cauliflower in the stack is one thing, but for them all to be bad is just gross. Especially since rotting cauliflower stinks like you wouldn't believe. Our pre-packed fruit is the same - it's not unusual to find one or two rotten pieces. We've had nectarines for the last couple of weeks, and there's now fruit flies swarming all over the bad ones.

I wouldn't trust the meat as far as I could throw it, though - we're technically only supposed to sell fruit and vegetables, so I don't actually know if health and safety check the meat. I would hope that they do, but still...O_o"

The watermelons and cherries are good, though.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

DGoddess - Winn Dixie is gone there too?

In my area, we have about 6 Publix stores in about a 2-mile radius, 1 Albertson's (still there only because it's 24-hours), and 1 winn-dixie that's on its way out. We have one of those walmart neighborhood market thingies too, but I've never been in there. Working for publix, that's the only store I'll go to. Goodings (who was bought out by winn-dixie) hasn't been here for about 10 years, same as food lion. I don't think I was ever in a food lion (too young, perhaps), though I remember my dad CONSTANTLY telling my nana to not buy food from there. We'd go to her house and throw out half her fridge because it was all rank and bad. She still doesn't pay attention to expiration dates, but at least now she doesn't buy them bad.

WD started making their exit from NC in 2004 when the store I worked at was shut down. In August 2005, the 3 remaining stores in Greensboro, as well as all the other ones in NC and SC closed for good.

I heard thru the grapevine that WD had shut down a group of stores near Jacksonville (where their HQ is located no less.) They're now down to just over 500 stores and are about to exit bankruptcy protection.

I wonder now that they're coming out of the bankruptcy, will they eventually try to regain some of their former markets. There's speculation that they may try to come back to North Carolina, but so far there's been no confirmation or denial of anything.