Moms shopping in two separate supermarkets reported to Our Time Press on Saturday evening.

One mom was observed smelling chicken breast and then telling her two girls not to touch the packaging. She didn’t want them to “catch” anything. “It smells, I’m not buying it,” she told a friend on the cell phone.

“The good meat is in other neighborhoods like Clinton Hill and Fort Greene,” said M., mother of three.
“And sometimes it’s cheaper. Here, the color’s even different.”
The labeling revealed the “good by” date on the ground beef was that Saturday. And there seemed to be a lot of it piling up in the case — with little refrigeration.
How do they feel about settling for bad, unhealthy food?

“Nothing new,” one said. “It’s hit or miss. You hit the store at the right time, you get the meats that don’t stink. If you don’t, you miss out on making the meal you want to make. So, you try to get there early. Still taking a chance.

“I don’t want my kids to get sick. If it smells, I don’t buy it. That’s the rule.”
An hour later, we ran into one of the women walking with two friends. They had just left a Chinese takeout restaurant. They informed me that a chicken wing was found inside a hamburger.

Story and photo
by Bernice Elizabeth Green