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Our Experience With Lagos Supermarket Sealed Over Expired Products- Customers


On Tuesday, the Lagos State Consumer Protection Agency sealed up Chiffy supermarket in Ikeja GRA, for selling expired toothpaste and other household products.

The supermarket, which is on Oduduwa Crescent, sold diverse items such as beverages, foodstuffs, drinks, and personal and home care products in wholesale and retail.

However, the agency caught wind of the store’s infraction through a Facebook post made by a lawyer, Kurtis Adigba, on Sunday.

Adigba wrote, “A supermarket in GRA Ikeja boldly displayed expired toothpaste for sale. When I pointed it out to them, the manager said, ‘but people are buying them.’ What audacity! He knows there are no consequences for his action.”

Then in the post’s comment section, the lawyer added, “The name of the supermarket is Chiffy.”

Following the tip-off, the General Manager of LASCOPA, Afolabi Solebo, visited the supermarket on Sunday to verify the information.

In a viral video which he recorded amidst interjections and pleadings by a well-dressed woman, Solebo said, “Hello Lagosians, I’m in Chiffy supermarket. You can see this woman, she is trying to rough handle me.

“This is Chiffy, she is selling expired products in this supermarket. I want Mr Governor to see this; this is what they do. See, she is even rough-handling me. I got this report on Facebook; I left my home on a Sunday and I came and all of a sudden, this is what I see here.

“This is what she is selling to Lagosians – expired products. All these (products) are expired. This is what she does. I am sealing this place tomorrow morning.”

In a separate video seen by our correspondent, a mild drama ensued between the LASCOPA GM and a man believed to be the owner of the supermarket.

In it, the agency’s enforcement team was confiscating items in the supermarket stands and putting them into large bags while Solebo could be heard speaking in the background.

The store manager, whose face was not shown in the video tried to interrupt the activity saying, “We don’t have a problem; I know you are doing your job, but could you please do this job with some decorum? Oga, you are human.”

Solebo replied to him, “Please, mind your language. You don’t have the right to talk to me like that. What do you mean by decorum?”

The store owner continued, “Can we take a stock of what you have taken out of the place?”

To this, the LASCOPA GM responded, “They are expired. Don’t interject when I’m working if not I will ensure that I deal with you legally. It is the law.”

As of Tuesday morning when our correspondent visited the supermarket around 11.45am, it had been sealed up by the state government.

There was no one on the premises although two of the three shops adjourning the supermarket in the spacious compound were still open.

When our reporter approached the owners of these stores, they declined to comment on the issue.

A statement issued by LASCOPA indicated that Solebo observed while at the supermarket that the toothpaste and other products in the store had no price tags and were all expired.

“He added that the dates found on them were discovered to have expired in August 2022, November 2022, and January 2023 and were being sold to unsuspecting members of the public.

“He said in line with the THEMES agenda of Mr Governor, such an act would not be tolerated in Lagos State, while he disclosed that the matter is already before a court of competent jurisdiction for prosecution.

“Solebo, who reiterated LASCOPA’s mandate of protecting the interest of consumers against expired, hazardous and substandard products, said the supermarket would remain shut and placed under surveillance, while the sample of the products confiscated would be destroyed by the relevant government agency,” the statement added.

The GM explained that the action became necessary “in order to rid the state of all forms of unscrupulous and unfair trade practices and to further ensure the safety of consumers from the dangers of expired products which might lead to death without people knowing the cause.”

Previous complaints from consumers
Findings by Saturday PUNCH revealed that Chiffy supermarket was heavily patronised by many residents due to the relatively low prices of its products.

However, for years, a number of its customers had reportedly lodged complaints against the expired products in the store without anyone addressing their concerns.

One of the customers, Mr Mayowa Clement, said he once purchased expired cookies from the store without knowing.

He said, “Chiffy is a store I have patronised for many years, and was disappointed that happened. Last year December, I bought a pack of cookies but curiously checked the expiry date, which was November 2022. I quickly called the attention of the attendant, who apologised and offered I picked from another set on display.

“That I did and that carried 2023 as its expiry date. I again raised the issue while I was making payment with the cashier, who again apologised. It caught my attention when I read from the Facebook page post of Barrister Kurtis Adigba that the same Chiffy was again caught stocking expired products!

“I think the management has been careless about that because these are known people for adherence to standards. But when many people keep falling into the same thing, I think we cannot but commend LASCOPA for acting and rising to the occasion.”

During a phone interview with our correspondent, Adigba, who notified the agency, narrated what transpired while he was at the supermarket.

He said, “I went to the store to buy toothpaste. I saw that there were ones displayed in front of the shop and they indicated ‘for sale.’ So, I asked them for the price and they said N250. Those are toothpastes and they are about N600 or N800 for a pack, so I was wondering why they were selling them for N250.

“So, I lifted one of them up and I saw, ‘Best before December 2022’ so I queried them, ‘Why are you guys selling these things, they are no longer useful.’ But the manager shouted at me that people were buying the toothpaste and if I didn’t want to buy, I should leave it.

“In that first video you will see that woman wearing lace. She is the owner of the store. She has a reputation for this. I spoke with someone who is close to her and this person advised me that anytime I go there to buy something, I have to be careful because all her stocks are expired.”

The lawyer added that the government should ensure that the store owners were prosecuted to serve as a deterrent to others.

“If you go through all the major supermarkets in Lagos, you will see what is going on there. Many of them are selling expired products also,” he added.

Interestingly, in a tweet dated April 5, 2018, a Twitter user (@Tnath) tagged the Consumer Protection Council of Nigeria to a picture of a white margarine and called on the organisation to investigate Chiffy supermarket.

“@CPCNig I would like you to investigate this Chiffy supermarket 3, Oduduwa Crescent, Ikeja GRA; they always sell expired products. We have found weevils in oat bought from them. Most recently, their margarine tastes like sheabutter,” the tweet said.

In another tweet dated September 2018, a Twitter user (@kunle_jinadu) wrote, “There is a store in GRA called Chiffy supermarket. Check expiry dates well if you use them.”

A man, who gave his name simply as Dayo, also said he had complained about an expired product in Chiffy supermarket, which was later covered up.

“I have complained before and the next day they covered up the expiration date. This was 2014/15,” he said.

Not only Chiffy

As the report of the shutdown of Chiffy supermarket went viral on social media, several Lagos residents disclosed that there were also other supermarkets that knowingly sold expired products to customers.

A resident, who gave his name only as Richard for security reasons, said, “There is a place on Lagos Island where they fill tetracycline with Golden Penny semovita. That is how these people claim to be making money ‘legally.’ They should be paid a visit.”

Another resident, Bamidele Ojo, said, “The sealing of Chiffy supermarket is a welcome development. The sale of expired goods is very common in Lagos supermarkets. I have fallen victim to this too.

“Unfortunately, most people don’t check the expiry date of foods and drinks. The only time they do this is when the taste is off.”

A man who didn’t want his name in print said, “The same thing happened to me in a well-known supermarket in Idimu. I bought an expired perfume from them, went back there with the product and my receipt, but they refused to entertain my complaint neither did they apologise!”

On several occasions, retail stores in various parts of Lagos have been shut down by the Lagos State Government for flagrant violation of consumer health safety through the sale of expired products.

For instance, in October 2022, following complaints from residents, LASCOPA sealed up Cynosure Associate Superstores on Ajao Estate over the display of expired products on its shelves.

In March 2021, Bazaar Supermarket on Aromire Street, Ikeja, was also shut down by LASCOPA for displaying on its shelves products with inadequate information such as date of production, expiration and manufacturer’s details in spite of repeated warnings from the agency.

Similarly, in February 2022, a retail store in Ogba, Home Affairs Supermarket, was also sealed up by government officials for selling expired and hazardous products to the public.

Expiry dates are important – Experts

According to a food quality assurance officer, Mr Immanuel Basil, the expiry dates of consumer goods are directly related to their quality.

“Expiry dates are very crucial in the production of Fast Moving Consumer Goods. As a matter of fact, it’s one of the elements of quality consumer goods. It’s also not news that some FMCGs make lots of mistakes with expiry dates.

“This is seen when their products on counters or in distribution begin to deteriorate even before the quoted expiry dates. So, the calculation of expiry dates is very pivotal to quality.

“This is especially true because these goods have or could have several different components that go into the production blending and can react with each other in one way or the other to give a different outcome other than expected.

“The packaging material, storage conditions and handling of the products on transit also play a role in all of these.”

Basil noted that the quality of products would deteriorate before their expiry dates and consuming such could have serious health implications.

“Expiry dates are very important and flouting them could be injurious to health. I will recommend that consumers are careful with products. Products can go off before the expiry date, so it’s important to be mindful and flag off any cases to the company’s customer care for corrections and retrieval of batches already in distribution.

“The major implications of consuming expired range from mild to severe stomach upset, allergies, in rare cases death, and a bad experience of these products,” he added.

On his part, a food safety researcher, Mr Benson Joshua, said expired food or house care products were unsafe and should not be sold to the public.

“The date on the package is not always the date the food goes bad, because it is the manufacturer that determines what date the product is best consumed. After that date, the manufacturer does not guarantee the best flavour or texture.

“Many supermarkets have a challenge with expired products and that is because they don’t have inspection officers that check expiry dates and take them off their shelves. In developed countries, such products are returned to the manufacturers and if they are perishable, they are discarded. But to knowingly sell such expired products to the public is very bad and such actions should be punished. Public health should be a priority as much as profit,” he stated.

Our correspondent reached out to Chiffy supermarket for comments.

While one of the phone numbers provided on its website was unreachable, the other rang out and a text message sent to the line was not replied to as of the time of filing this report.



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