Fresh Pork Actually Slaughtered Months Ago? Sam's Club Issues Urgent Response! Quality Control Repeatedly Questioned, Netizens Say "Not as Good as Wet Markets"

Article | “BUG” Column by Zhou Wenmeng

Today, Sam’s claim that “fresh pork was slaughtered four months ago” has sparked widespread controversy. Currently, Sam’s official explanation blames the issue on “system information synchronization and verification errors,” denying that the fresh meat was slaughtered “months ago.” However, most consumers’ doubts about its food safety remain, with many saying, “It’s better to buy at the market.”

Yi Guan Consumer Analyst Li Yingtao told the “BUG” column, “Fresh food is too non-standard, which makes traceability difficult. This gives some operators room to maneuver, and it’s a common phenomenon.” But Sam’s focuses on high quality; when it lowers standards to serve customers in a routine, mass-market way, controversy naturally follows.

Yesterday, Sam’s was heavily criticized for “misleading about raw salmon for raw consumption,” and People’s Daily also commented on its “low standards in labeling, high standards in promotion.” Six days ago, Sam’s withdrew its “freeze-dried strawberries” that were similar to those involved in the 315 incident, causing widespread debate, and the company has yet to respond. During discussions with the “BUG” column, several customers who spend over ten thousand yuan annually at Sam’s also reported issues such as “lost shopping items” and blueberries and kiwifruit spoiling within their shelf life.

Sam’s, a high-end membership supermarket known for strict quality control, seems to be quietly changing.

“Food Safety” Controversies Continue: Fruits Rot Within Shelf Life

Today, the topic “Sam’s responds that the fresh pork sold was slaughtered months ago” has triggered widespread debate. Shenzhen consumer Ms. Jiang reported that on March 19, she bought chilled black pork at Sam’s Qianhai store. When scanning the QR code for traceability, it showed the slaughter date as November 9, 2025, over four months after purchase.

According to Sam’s staff, “Chilled meat has a 120-day shelf life,” but later they changed their explanation to say the “traceability code was not updated.” By March 19, Ms. Jiang found that the “food traceability information” on the page had disappeared when she scanned again, suspecting that Sam’s was selling “products thawed from frozen meat.”

Currently, Sam’s official statement denies that the fresh meat was slaughtered “months ago,” attributing the issue to “system synchronization and verification errors,” claiming that the inability to query the traceability code is due to system optimization. However, even after the official response, consumer doubts about “fraudulent sales” persist. Many netizens expressed dissatisfaction: “It’s worse than market pork,” “What kind of response is this,” “The reputation will collapse faster than it rose,” and “Deceiving consumers will lead to no good end.”

This is not an isolated incident. Just a day before the pork controversy, the misleading promotion of salmon for raw consumption also raised doubts about Sam’s quality. It even prompted People’s Daily to comment on “low standards in labeling, high standards in promotion,” suggesting that Sam’s aims to profit from premium raw fish products while shirking safety responsibilities, ignoring consumers’ right to know and health.

Between March 13 and 15, Sam’s organic freeze-dried strawberries were exposed to contain cadmium levels 14 times over the standard and residues of more than 20 pesticides, all from the same OEM factory. Sam’s quickly removed these products overnight but did not disclose testing reports or traceability details, sparking further controversy.

During discussions with the “BUG” column, many long-time Sam’s customers reported issues like “fruit spoilage.” A Beijing user said that blueberries and kiwifruit purchased recently at Sam’s “spoiled within the shelf life,” with blueberries moldy and kiwifruit black and rotten inside, failing to meet food safety standards. Some even experienced diarrhea after eating just a few bites of Sam’s “French banana crepes.”

Another customer who spends over ten thousand yuan annually at Sam’s said that this year, they bought a Disney Toy Story claw machine toy, but upon receipt, found that the product was missing from the same order, suspected to be an omission in shipping, with no compensation or re-shipment from the seller so far.

On Black Cat Complaints [Download Black Cat Complaint App], there are currently over 14,719 complaints about Sam’s supermarkets and membership stores. The main issues include: 1) product quality problems, such as spoiled fruits and hot dogs; 2) poor logistics and delivery experience, including lost or damaged items; 3) unsatisfactory after-sales service, with customer service delaying or refusing to resolve issues, slow refunds.

The massive consumer complaints further expose the quality flaws and lack of after-sales support at Sam’s. When asked how they handle these complaints, a Sam’s staff member only responded, “Thank you for your concern, we will report to the relevant department.”

Expansion to 13 New Stores, Rapid Growth but Loss of Quality Control

Contrasting sharply with the frequent food safety incidents, Sam’s rapid expansion in China continues. According to Walmart’s latest financial report, in fiscal year 2026, the company’s revenue reached $713.163 billion, with a net profit of $21.893 billion, up 4.73% and 12.64% year-over-year. Walmart China achieved net sales of $24.7 billion (about 170.3 billion yuan), a 21.67% increase from 2025. Sam’s membership stores are the main driver of this growth.

Data shows that, so far, Sam’s has opened 63 stores in 32 cities across China. In 2025, it opened a record 10 new stores, and in 2026, plans to open 13 more, with dual-store layouts in Qingdao, Foshan, Tianjin, and more, expanding into more provincial capitals and prefecture-level cities, accelerating the pace of expansion.

Behind this rapid growth, the quick establishment of stores has led to management challenges, including insufficient quality control staff. Previously, incidents such as live mice found in Shenzhen Sam’s “Speedy Delivery” mochi boxes, metal foreign objects in Shanghai consumers’ date paste walnut cakes, and the shelves stocking brands like Haitai, Panpan, Xu Fu Ji, and Liuliu Mei, have been seen as signs of declining product standards and a focus on profit over member needs.

In discussions with the “BUG” column, Yi Guan analyst Li Yingtao explained, “Fresh-related food is too non-standard. Unlike other packaged products, which are pre-processed, fresh products are difficult to trace and verify, giving operators room to manipulate. This is a common industry phenomenon.”

“Sam’s is under more scrutiny because it is recognized for high-quality membership fees. When it starts having product quality issues repeatedly, it naturally draws more consumer dissatisfaction and public attention,” Li said. Since it targets high-end consumers, who are more particular, using routine, mass-market methods to serve them can easily lead to controversy.

Furthermore, the decline in Sam’s private label sales—once accounting for up to 38%—has been a key factor in its deteriorating quality control. Public data shows that this proportion has fallen below 30%, with nearly 200 exclusive popular products removed from shelves.

The removal of these exclusive products reduces the R&D and quality control costs for private brands but also makes supply chain management more difficult, especially with external suppliers.

“International retail companies, over time, find it hard to avoid issues with self-operated brands because the control chain is too long,” Li said. As private label share declines and reliance on external suppliers increases, managing product quality and external partners amid rapid growth becomes a new challenge for Sam’s China.

Ultimately, the core competitiveness of membership-based supermarkets lies in “trust.” Consumers pay annual fees for a sense of “safe shopping without second-guessing.” If Sam’s lowers standards or compresses quality control processes to pursue scale and profits, whether consumers are willing to pay for such membership services becomes a new question.