Community Chat

[FrostyBabe1]

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@puttypiesmom wrote:

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@Imaoldhippie wrote:

How in the world did you every get this idea?

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There are many reasons I began to feel this way.  First off, Whole Foods at the local level meaning inhouse was preparing fruit salads and labeling the plastic containers organic on the same cutting board as non organic fruit salad and they got caught and told to stop but did so for years before getting caught.  There are very strict guidelines regarding calling something organic and they were not following those guidelines.  Secondly, when I saw the Whole Foods employees stocking the shelves with 365 house brand 1/2 gallon jugs of water which are $.99, I asked what brand they really were and was told Crystal Geyser which they sell for a ridiculous $1.65 and given every indication right then and there that it was done inhouse in the back somewhere.  Third reason I began to distrust and feel that grocery stores were capable of anything is because they blatantly place lookalike house brands flush up against a national brand even touching packages side by side with the clear and false implication that it is always an identical product.  Yes, one has to read labels and good luck with that when often times the print is very tiny and the ingredients not in the same order as the national brand.  Ingredient order use to mean something but that too has changed from what I have been told.    

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Well, yes. Crystal Geyser probably packages water under many brands other than their own. One day a week the packaging line may run that brand. The next day it may run the 365 brand. The next day it may be another store's brand. It's all done at the point of manufacturing/packaging and then distributed to the stores. 

It's nothing new. I have a friend that works for a huge consumer packaged goods company. One day the line may be packaging their own brand of corn flakes. The next day it's going into bulk packaging for a food service chain. The next day it goes in to packaging for the WalMart brand. The next day it runs packaging for another chain. 

[insomniac2]

Obviously a joke.

[puttypiesmom]

@insomniac2@SCshopper2@Imaoldhippie@Mom2Dogs  @Scorpio1971 @RoughDraft

Times have changed and grocery stores like Kroger no longer outsource 100% of their store brands to the major name brands to package and label.  In fact, Kroger which is the largest supermarket chain and second largest retailer behind Walmart owns 38 manufacturing plants all throughout the country that manufactures 40% of its store brands.  Many have wondered if these were knockoffs and just where they had originated. Nineteen plants are dairy, 10 are bakery (including two that also manufacture deli products) and the remaining make grocery items. The plants are strategically spread across the country and located near Kroger’s divisions. Kroger operates all of the plants except two meat plants — one in Colorado and one in Southern California, both of which it owns but outsources operations.

Here:

https://storebrands.com/crowning-kroger

[sunala]

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@puttypiesmom wrote:

I appreciate everyone's response, I just would like to see full disclosure as to who is manufacturing what under which label.  

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@puttypiesmom- I think if this is of such interest to you, when you do your research and find this full disclosure, please share it with us.

[Marp]

@puttypiesmom  I am not the least bit concerned about look alike packaging of store brands to name brands nor do I care what companies are manufacturing for the store brands.  If I accidentally pick up a store brand instead of the name brand that is my fault.

When it comes to disclosure I would much rather know the source of the ingredients and I'm not referring to made in _____ labels.  A can of soup can be made in America with 100% of the ingredients foreign sourced.

[RoughDraft]

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@puttypiesmom wrote:

@insomniac2@SCshopper2@Imaoldhippie@Mom2Dogs  @Scorpio1971 @RoughDraft

Times have changed and grocery stores like Kroger no longer outsource 100% of their store brands to the major name brands to package and label.  In fact, Kroger which is the largest supermarket chain and second largest retailer behind Walmart owns 38 manufacturing plants all throughout the country that manufactures 40% of its store brands.  Many have wondered if these were knockoffs and just where they had originated. Nineteen plants are dairy, 10 are bakery (including two that also manufacture deli products) and the remaining make grocery items. The plants are strategically spread across the country and located near Kroger’s divisions. Kroger operates all of the plants except two meat plants — one in Colorado and one in Southern California, both of which it owns but outsources operations.

Here:

https://storebrands.com/crowning-kroger

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@puttypiesmom  No one is arguing that times have changed.  Everything changes.  As far as Krogers, I've never seen one in my georgraphical area and have no interest in what they are doing.

My jaw-dropping response to your OP was the fact that you thought there were people opening cans/packages and emptying the contents into generic cans or containers to be resold and the fact that you questioned the sanitary practices of such a move.   It sounded as though the supermarkets had some back rooms with employees engaging in this nepharious activity.  The very idea that taking a top price item and re-canning it and selling it at a cheaper cost, boggled my mind.

[Sooner]

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@puttypiesmom wrote:

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@Desertdi wrote:

I worked for a big manufacturing company.   We produced many items under different trade names.    The labeling is the last thing on the assembly line.

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I am still curious though after seeing the lookalike water that Kroger is selling to mimic Fiji Water which of course is bottled in Fiji.  Would you guess that they too have other trade names at the bottling plant in Fiji so Kroger and other grocery stores can charge less money for the same product?  @Desertdi  

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@puttypiesmom  You are way off base with this idea you have.  I can tell you for a fact how it works because we grew spinach for a living at one time.

Our spinach was hauled from the field to a canning plant.  The plant processed the spinach and canned it.  It canned THE SAME spinach for a number of national brands.  The product and cans were the same, the labels changed.

Some vegetables are graded and canned at the same plants, but may be from runs using products of different quality.  For instance green beans:  They may can some from products of a certain graded quality out of the fields, then some from higher quality beans--maybe fewer or no blimishes, and fewer or no missbut beans, like beans without the ends cut off for smaller corn kernals or something.  

But the products in grocery stores come from commercial plants that put different labels on them.

Refrigerators used to be made where we lived.  They made them for Whirlpool, Kennmore and other brands.  Sometimes the components were different, according to the specifications of the brand, but they all came off the same line, made by the same folks.  

Grocery stores don't repackage canned goods or water.  That just isn't the way it works. 

[puttypiesmom]

The biggest problem I'm having with Kroger is their arrogance.  I've spoken to their management team and they feel they don't have to disclose anything.  Kroger is a huge supermarket chain....the biggest in the country and they now manufacture their own food and other goods no longer depending on an outsourced entity to do it for them. What about regulations...they're loose now and never were enforceable anyway.  I don't trust them after everything I've learned.  They have 38 manufacturing plants in the country. I missed my calling as this topic is very important to me and if I could get up into their business in the capacity of a credentialed investigative reporter I would.  

[aroc3435]

@puttypiesmom   If you are suspicious of this supermarket why don't you just shop at another major chain in your area?  

Doubtful, to me, that there is anything amiss at Kroger's.  And legally they don't have to disclose any proprietary information.

There are federal health and safety standards that any food purveyor has to adhere to, as well as state and local laws.

If you continue to think you are being deceived in any way your State Representative's office or your State Attorney General's office might be able to assist you in clarifying this for you.