Sessa's Italian Food in Davis

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

I recently went to Sessa's to get food for some gift baskets. I was horrified to find that almost all of the food in the grocery store was expired. I understand its a difficult business and they don't sell off their inventory as fast as a chain store, but this is a serious health risk. Almost every bottle of Olive Oil was expired by at least 2 or 3 years, they even blacked out some of the older expired dates. Be careful if you ever buy anything there. If this is how they carry out the grocery section, i'd be even more wary of their deli.

Comments

[ron_newman]

the Somerville Health Department would be interested in this. They're closed today for the holiday, but please call them tomorrow.

[gildersleeve.livejournal.com]

Did you ask the guy who runs the place about this? He is a reasonable fellow who has been in the square for decades. I think the first step is to address the issue with the business owner before running off to the city - perhaps he is unaware of the situation, or the severity of it.

If you do not get an adequate response from the person who runs the business, then you should contact the city, in my opinion.

I have enjoyed Sessa's sandwiches and deli for years and have never encountered a problem (in fact many people swear by their italian subs) but I admit that I have never shopped there for groceries. Judging by the level of business there for lunch, I think they go through quite a bit of deli product, so I wouldn't worry that it isn't fresh.

[ron_newman]

Good point, though if the store is really filled with outdated merchandise, that would really bother me.

[shinxy.livejournal.com]

likewise, i've always found their italian subs to be excellent. but then again, i don't buy much italian groceries.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I eat there two or three times a week and I've never had a problem... I get subs and (delicious) soup mostly. The shop is packed to the gills with merch, so I could see how they could overlook some expired product, and I'll ask them about it.

[anotherjen.livejournal.com]

I bought a jar of Nutella there once that was all separated when I opened it, and I found that the expiration date had been blacked out, so I just returned it and they gave me cash back. So maybe they're a bit behind on their inventory, but I agree that you should talk to Mr. Sessa before going to the town.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

I've never had issues with their deli products. I think their turnover must be higher for that stuff. In fact, I'd wager their deli meats are some of the best I've had around this area.

[arcanology.livejournal.com]

I'm having real trouble understanding sympathy for someone who blacks out the expiration dates.

Expired items are one thing. Expired items deliberately altered to hide their expiration dates so you will buy them indicate that they know they're doing a bad thing and have a certain level of contempt for either the law or their customers.

[kjc.livejournal.com]

Gotta agree with you there.

[jmorash.livejournal.com]

Italian food doesn't actually go bad, you see. Ever. Those expiration dates are just a legal formality.

Blacking Out the Dates Seems Unacceptable

[shana-lyons.livejournal.com]

I've got to agree with Arcanology. I can understand not knowing about a date or two and inadvertently having things out too long, but blacking out the dates seems very deliberate and deceptive.

Buyer beware.

[sprrwhwk.livejournal.com]

Rancid olive oil isn't a health risk, it just doesn't taste very pleasant. See http://www.hormel.com/templates/knowledge/knowledge.asp?catitemid=40&id=190 namely:
Olive oil is safe to use even if it has oxidized. The flavor and aroma may not be very pleasant, but it is not harmful if consumed.

I bought a bottle of olive oil from there about 6 months ago (2000-2001 pressing, so rather old) and it was fine.

[heliograph.livejournal.com]

I spoke with the owner today. Apparently on imported Italian food the date on the product isn't an expiration date, but the date that the product was packaged. He apparently already had the city health department in on this issue, they researched it, and found out he was right.

He wanted to know which products people were complaining about, and when I told him about the olive oil he said there was olive oil they found at Pompei that was still good.

He also encouraged anyone who had a question or any problems with his shop to talk to him about it rather than posting anonymously on the Internet. He's entertaining, and pretty much everything above is a paraphrase: he's much more colorful ;-)

[duffless2323.livejournal.com]

To clarify, I did speak to them in the store and was basically blown off with a "the food's fine" response. However, I'm not sure it was the owner. While Olive Oil may not expire, I prefer not to buy rancid olive oil. It was a word of warning, buyer beware, as they say. In looking around the shop I found singificantly more than just olive oil expired. I'll be sticking to that place in Harvard Square if I need to buy something imported. Anyone here can go and make up their own mind.

[an-art-worker.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear that it isn't some nefarious thing.

He can be a bit gruff sometimes but when I went in a few months ago to ask him if he could translate some Italian documents for me (trying to get my Italian citizenship) he dropped everything and spent about 20 minutes with me (while soliciting opinions from some other Italian speaking customers who were waiting). It was really sweet.

[maelithil.livejournal.com]

I'm very tempted to call bullshit on that. I lived in Italy for 20 years before moving to the US, and the date printed on perishable food in Italy *is* the expiration date. Very few items have the packaging date, and in any event a packaging date is always paired with an expiration date.

[everose.livejournal.com]

I have to second this. I love Sessa's deli section and hate to speak ill of them, but I've grocery shopped in Italy many times and I know that they print expiration dates on their foods, especially jars, bottles, and the like.

Also, it's not so unbelievable to me that a store would carry expired goods. Many convenience stores carry expired canned goods. One I used to frequent carried expired mayonaisse (ew). I'm not condoning it, but I just think that it happens a lot. And I tend to stop frequenting shops which do this.