Marvid Poultry is rejecting suggestions raised in a kosher food Facebook group that its chickens are mislabelled with the wrong “best before” date, sometimes leaving them inedible.

Marvid spokesperson Maurice Gabay said all poultry produced by the Montreal-based company are subject to rigorous standards of cleanliness, are inspected constantly and are packaged with an expected shelf life of one week. If they are handled properly, there should be no issues of a foul smell or of any chicken being spoiled, Gabay said.

Gabay reached out to The CJN when he learned about an impending story regarding concerns about poultry produced by the Quebec-based company.

READ: ONTARIO FIRM CHOSEN TO PRODUCE KOSHER CHICKENS

On June 5, in Norene’s Kitchen, a Facebook group hosted by well-known food writer, cooking instructor and CJN contributor Norene Gilletz, Rosie Schwartz wrote, “We need to take action against Marvid. They have consistently packaged products at Costco with the wrong best-before date.”

Schwartz, a consulting dietitian and food writer, said she purchased a package of chicken wings on a Monday, four days before the due date. “I went to put them in the freezer on Wednesday. Not only did they stink up my refrigerator, but they were green,” she wrote.

That posting prompted a vigorous discussion on Facebook, with some participants writing they had no problem with Marvid chickens, while others called them “substandard.” A consumer in Ottawa agreed the chicken breasts she purchased “smell bad within a short couple of days,” while another woman wrote, “Before Pesach, I bought chicken thighs at Costco, and they were green the next day. I was shocked.”

Schwartz, who lives in Toronto, told The CJN she has purchased bad chicken “a number of times” and raised her concerns about the chickens with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).

The most recent incident was the last straw. Not only did the chicken make her fridge smell, but when she opened the package, she found green spots near the wing.

“It looked like mould.”

She called Costco and was told she would receive a store credit for the purchase.

Concerned over food safety, she decided to bring her shopping experience to a wider public through the Facebook group.

She’s upset with Marvid, saying the company is taking advantage of kosher consumers by supplying fatty chicken to a captive market. Ever since Chai Poultry closed in 2013, Marvid has been the only supplier of fresh kosher chicken in Ontario, though a new supplier, Premier, is expected to begin kosher chicken production in 2017.

Ron Damiani, a spokesperson for Costco, said “we have no issues with his vendor in Quebec. We had one return only, and we fully reimbursed the member.”

“If there was an issue, we would have immediately taken the product off the floor. We won’t risk people’s health,” Damiani said.

Gabay said Marvid’s plant is subject to snap inspections, and there are regularly four to six inspectors on the premises at any one time, along with kashrut supervisors.

The plant is washed and disinfected daily. Because Marvid ships to the United States, “we go through all FDA [Food and Drug Administration] supervision. We have a veterinarian on the premises and CFIA inspectors.”

READ: WHAT’S A KOSHER FOODIE TO DO?

When processed properly, fresh chicken should have a seven-day shelf life, if it is properly refrigerated, he added.

“At the end of the shelf life, the product might have a smell, but that doesn’t mean it’s dangerous or unsafe for consumption,” Gabay said.

Tony Palladino, controller at Marvid, said when the company learned of the Facebook postings, “we did a follow-up with the Costco buyer to make sure if they had any complaint. The only thing that came up over the last several months is one lady who returned a tray.”

Marvid produces more than 100,000  trays a week, and “this lady lands on two trays,” he said. “I really don’t understand how this came about.”

Nevertheless, Marvid plans to conduct an internal investigation and will also send samples to an external lab for evaluation, Palladino said.

“We are very proud of our product and  our plant, and if anything needs to be fixed, it’s fixed,” added Gabay.