They're awful. I went and bought several packages of Ontario (Canada)
prune plums thinking I'd make some nice jam today. After washing some
foul-smelling and foul feeling white stuff off the outside, I started
in on pitting them.

Every single one of them had rust inside, and large clear crystals of
I don't know what it was. My fingers feel like they've been subjected
to some kind of corrosive (no kidding!) and the kitchen stinks to high
heaven.

I don't know what the hell that was all about but I tossed out a lot
of money. Even though I phoned the store where I bought them and was
told I'd be reimbursed, the store manager said that the Ontario plums
are inferior, that he had no control over the purchases and
apologized.

Save your money, buy U.S. plums. They're superior in every way.

Karen

justme(Karen) wrote:
> They're awful. I went and bought several packages of Ontario (Canada)
> prune plums thinking I'd make some nice jam today. After washing some
> foul-smelling and foul feeling white stuff off the outside, I started
> in on pitting them.
>
> Every single one of them had rust inside, and large clear crystals of
> I don't know what it was. My fingers feel like they've been subjected
> to some kind of corrosive (no kidding!) and the kitchen stinks to high
> heaven.
>
> I don't know what the hell that was all about but I tossed out a lot
> of money. Even though I phoned the store where I bought them and was
> told I'd be reimbursed, the store manager said that the Ontario plums
> are inferior, that he had no control over the purchases and
> apologized.
>
> Save your money, buy U.S. plums. They're superior in every way.
>
> Karen
I don't know anything about Ontario prune plums, but I have had really
lousy US plums and really good ones and great plums from British
Columbia which last time I looked was still here in Canada. Both are
big countries with many fruit growers and distributers.
Ellen

when I was a university student I worked for a supermarket
in their produce warehouse (Loblaws at the foot of Bathurst Street in
Toronto). I remember opening up a railcar full of US peaches and they were
all bad, been sitting too long on a railway siding somehwere. It happens
sometimes. Nowadays it could be the slow border crossings.

BTW we ate pretty well in that warehouse. Working nights. Handfuls of
blueberries, a piece of fruit whenever, that sort of thing. At the meal
break somebody would grab a big spanish onion and slice it up for the
sandwiches we brought from home.


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"justme(Karen)" > wrote in message
...
> They're awful. I went and bought several packages of Ontario (Canada)
> prune plums thinking I'd make some nice jam today. After washing some
> foul-smelling and foul feeling white stuff off the outside, I started
> in on pitting them.
>
> Every single one of them had rust inside, and large clear crystals of
> I don't know what it was. My fingers feel like they've been subjected
> to some kind of corrosive (no kidding!) and the kitchen stinks to high
> heaven.
>
> I don't know what the hell that was all about but I tossed out a lot
> of money. Even though I phoned the store where I bought them and was
> told I'd be reimbursed, the store manager said that the Ontario plums
> are inferior, that he had no control over the purchases and
> apologized.
>
> Save your money, buy U.S. plums. They're superior in every way.
>
> Karen

huh...curious. Where do you live and where did you buy them? I'm thinking
location and how long they were in transit might have something to do with
it...

Kathi

"William R. Watt" wrote:
>
> when I was a university student I worked for a supermarket
> in their produce warehouse (Loblaws at the foot of Bathurst Street in
> Toronto). I remember opening up a railcar full of US peaches and they were
> all bad, been sitting too long on a railway siding somehwere. It happens
> sometimes. Nowadays it could be the slow border crossings.
>
> BTW we ate pretty well in that warehouse. Working nights. Handfuls of
> blueberries, a piece of fruit whenever, that sort of thing. At the meal
> break somebody would grab a big spanish onion and slice it up for the
> sandwiches we brought from home.

Sounds like you _did_eat really well! <g> Sort of the same when I
worked in a deli years ago (burp) LOL!!

Kathi Jones wrote:

> huh...curious. Where do you live and where did you buy them? I'm thinking
> location and how long they were in transit might have something to do with
> it...
>
> Kathi

I drove into Orillia (I'm in Ontario) and bought them at Loblaws' No
Frills store. Incidently when I phoned the store manager to complain
about the fruits, he admitted that he had gotten quite a few
complaints about them. He said that National Grocers is the buyer for
all the stores in Ontario (IGA, A&P, Ziggy's, etc). And that all the
plums in question are bad, so I said it would be a good idea for
Loblaws, etc to track down the orchard that grew them from the
packaging label and advise the owner that his orchards are poisoned or
whatever. It wasn't fair to anyone to continue to buy bad fruits and
pass the disasters off to consumers one way or another.

He agreed but said there was nothing he personally could do about as
he's just an independant owner of one store. So my next move is to
contact Loblaws by snail mail and complain.

......when fruits start smelling like pesticides and contain
crystallised who-knows-what that makes skin feel strange that's not
fruit.

So in answer to your question, all the plums are suspect if grown in
Ontario.

Karen

"justme" ) writes:

>...He said that National Grocers is the buyer for
> all the stores in Ontario (IGA, A&P, Ziggy's, etc).

George Weston's pretty well has a monopoly on supermarkets in Ontario now.
Their wholesale division supplies Loblaws, Your Independent Grocer (aka
IGA), Loeb, and others. The weekend flyers delivered to my house are
almost identical, just one page differs for each of those three branded
chains. The consolodation in supermarkets started some time ago. I worked
in differently branded supermarkets as a student, all owned by Weston's.
One summer I was working day shift in one store and part time evening
shift in aother until the district manager thought I looked a lot like the
guy he saw working at the other store so I had to quit the evening job. I
guess the payroll systems had not been consolodated.

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"William R. Watt" wrote:
>
> "justme" ) writes:
>
> >...He said that National Grocers is the buyer for
> > all the stores in Ontario (IGA, A&P, Ziggy's, etc).
>
> George Weston's pretty well has a monopoly on supermarkets in Ontario now.
> Their wholesale division supplies Loblaws, Your Independent Grocer (aka
> IGA), Loeb, and others. The weekend flyers delivered to my house are
> almost identical, just one page differs for each of those three branded
> chains. The consolodation in supermarkets started some time ago. I worked
> in differently branded supermarkets as a student, all owned by Weston's.
> One summer I was working day shift in one store and part time evening
> shift in aother until the district manager thought I looked a lot like the
> guy he saw working at the other store so I had to quit the evening job. I
> guess the payroll systems had not been consolodated.
>
LOL!!


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> William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
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