Rotten chicken spoils some appetites for Northern Store meats in Fort Simpson, N.W.T.
When Lynn Canney started lunch for her husband and five-year-old last Saturday, she noticed something was off with the meat.
The Fort Simpson resident had picked up a pound and a half of chicken from the local Northern Store that morning. It wasn't until she started cooking it that she began to suspect the meat was rotten.
"Optimistically, I kept cooking it," Canney told CBC.
"By the time I was finished I realized it was definitely rotten, the smell was very obvious. I couldn't serve it to my family."
Canney says it's not the first time this has happened. She says the store's food quality is so bad that she sometimes travels hundreds of kilometers outside of the community to buy groceries.
The Northern Store, part of the Northwest Company chain of grocery stores, is Fort Simpson's main option to buy groceries locally, other than a small convenience store.
Usually when she gets bad meat, Canney says, she throws it out, but this time she brought the chicken back to complain.
According to her, two store managers told her they did not see or smell anything wrong with the chicken.
Canney admits that she was angry and swore at management. They threatened to ban her from the location, but she was eventually reimbursed for the chicken.
"I'm not understanding how I could have any other response," she said.
Not a unique experience
Another resident, Lisa Kraus, has had similar experiences.
In January Kraus' sister-in-law bought chicken wings from the store. Like Canney, the pair discovered the meat was spoiled when they got home.
"It was all sticky and rotten and discoloured," she said, adding that she's had a similar problem with the store's steak.
"[The steak] looked okay until you get home to cook, then you end up throwing it out and there goes $25 to $30 down the drain due to it being bad."
Kraus said she was given her money back for the chicken, but trying to return other things has been a hassle in the past.
"When you try to bring [meat] back they are just like 'Well, you didn't put [it] in the fridge as soon as you got home," she said.
'We're a captive audience here'
Canney took to the Fort Simpson Bulletin Facebook page to share her experience. She's looking for other people to speak out as well, and hopes to organize a protest.
"I really, honestly believe that we deserve so much better in the North," Canney said.
"We're a captive audience here, and how dare the Northwest Company allow their business practices to become so abysmal that we're getting that close to making children sick because their food is rotten."
Shane Thompson, MLA for Nahendeh, says he has been made aware of the situation. He plans to meet with management at the Northern Store later this month to discuss the issue.
Derek Reimer, director of business development for the North West Company, said they have received three complaints about the quality of meat at their Fort Simpson location over the past few weeks.
"We have investigated these complaints and we're satisfied that we've taken the necessary steps to ensure product safety and the quality and freshness of these products," Reimer said.
"We are confident that our store staff are following appropriate sanitation procedures. They are regularly inspecting produce and in general we've received very positive feedback on our product assortment and the quality of freshness."
Reimer said these complaints are "isolated incidences," but encourages customers who do have complaints to seek a refund.
