We can all play our part when it comes to ensuring the quality of products in stores across the country

During a recent visit to a Centra store in Kilkenny, a colleague noticed a sour carton of Avonmore Protein Gold being displayed in a “grab and go” display unit beside the entrance door to the shop.

Eagle eyed, the Quality Operations colleague saw the fridge display unit was registering a temperature of 11°C and that several cartons of the product on display were within one day of expiring.

Quality Manager Ger Cadogan explained to Overherd why this is bad news for pasteurised dairy products. “Pasteurised dairy products must be stored under refrigerated conditions at all times from 0°C to 5°C maximum. UHT sterilized milks can be stored at ambient temperatures for up to 12 months, but pasteurised dairy products will spoil in a number of days if not kept properly refrigerated. Poor refrigeration performance in store display units is clearly bad news for our products and can lead to bad customer experiences.”

Thanks to the intervention of our colleague, the short date products were removed from sale and the refrigeration unit was repaired by the store’s refrigeration service contractor.

Ger explains that “we have Quality Teams regularly checking stores to ensure our products are being stored and displayed in the right conditions, but we can all play our part as Glanbia Ireland employees to ensure our products are fit for consumption and can be enjoyed by customers. Some things for people to keep an eye on are: is the product being rotated according to date? Is there adequate shelf life available? What temperature is the fridge running at?”

We can all be advocates for the quality of our products! If you see a problem in a store, please contact our Customer Service Centre or a member of the Quality Operations team whose details are printed on every product pack.