I have been doing this for myself for some time.....huge difference in prices with Super Value and Fresh Market. Butter, eggs, milk, coffee and Baby detergent just to name a few. We are talking difference in dollars amounts. I have been wondering how Fresh Market got away with their prices.

Because people bought it? No one forces you to shop at Fresh market, you are free to shop anywhere.

I did never said I pay those prices at Fresh Market, but, I compare prices and everyone should as well. Fresh Market is more convenient for me, but Super Value prices are better. People need to educate themselves and never trust gov to help them

Could the secret shoppers take pics of the unsanitary bathrooms at you know where supermarkets?

Maybe the Department of Health could check. If those bathrooms were in Canada the foodstoors would be written up immediately.

Also please check and take pics of the mold growing on berries.

This kind of grotesque surveillance activity is what the CCP does to its own people in Communist China and what ChiCom controlled government officials of other nations are encouraged to do to their own citizenry. A society in which the people are coerced or financially rewarded to spy on each other is a 'dead' society.

Rupert Roberts is that you??? LOL try hard sit down bey. This isn't grotesque, it should be the standard. The only people that don't want Consumer Protection are those that are trying to gouge the Consumers. They aren't spying on other Bahamians, they're spying on businesses. Get a grip.

Poor senile Rupert......now you have him believing he's changed colour. LOL

Only a fool would look to this current corrupt Davis-led PLP government for any kind of consumer protection. Stumpy Davis and his crew are well known to be in the business of screwing both Bahamian businesses and consumers alike.

I think it was President Ronald Reagan who said: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

It’s a common practice in the US though hardly ever publicly promoted or utilized by government organizations.

And in the Bahamas it’s tailor made fraud:

One goes say to the grocery store, picks up manufacturers stamped out of date items, and/or on meat items (usually frozen) the new tag/new date sandwiched together scam and approaches the store manager telling him/her their purpose and the solution.
That would be if I get X amount of groceries free this never happened.

All of a sudden,

Consumer chief - "He explained that an initial group of about 30 shoppers were selected to go into grocery stores across New Providence and identify discrepancies such as expired items and price gouging."

Well this is eye opening at this time when the ELECTIONS Campaigning has started. and especially when the technology in inventory controlling and sales are standard in just about all the Food STores across New Providence. When an item is sold the POS point of sale register computer inventory controls adjusts balances in inventory and at levels the programs are automatically adjusted. Levels of Grocery store business is almost fully computerized to indicate what is on the shelves and shelf life and in some advanced systems the computer inventory programs are linked to foreign suppliers and at different competing sources to capture the best in future prices.

in having these persons going around stores taking pictures seems to be too intrusive and unnecessary intimidating to merchants. Frankly, seeing persons take pictures of shelf items is obvious negative image to merchants and shoppers.

Last time an owner had his photo with a competing political group in Golden Gates, lo and behold the price inspectors were at the food store inspecting.

The Consumer people could just try to ask the store owners to view their Inventory Computer records of items and view the quantities remaining in the computer recording and sales and do a sampling check, instead of being in the stone age dinosaur era and using thug like intimidating spy photo techniques approaches.

There must be more advanced techniques to be using and the question is what happens when a constituency is targeted with dozens of Govt paid personnel showing up at the stores in that constituency particularly at the Electioning campaigning time?????
The agency needs to be revamped.

This agency just grand stands.

There is a small roster of price controlled goods, and merchants know how to handle that.

Otherwise merchants can charge what they please, mystery shopper or not.

Do not buy if you do not like the price. Or order from Amazon.

Funny these comments.
A free market is what we boast about, yet few seem educated enough to see the difference of what we practice.
What is seriously gouging the Bahamian people is the level of theft and corruption by those in political office.
This other stuff is merely a distraction.
What we need are 30 secret shoppers in the Office of the Prime Minister and other offices to route out the real corruption and theft that is much greater than what the private sector is doing.
Were we to prosecute and punish those politicians who are stealing from the Bahamian people we would see prices, licenses and fees drop across the country.
Any business person knows this, yet we keep playing the game, tight lipped.
We need some independent outsiders to come in and police our politicians. Period.
We are obviously incapable of finding the moral courage to stop these crimes.
Year after year after year.
Transparency, freedom of information, just meaningless words to these politicians.

Is this serious? Only in The Bahamas, people can do nonsense like this.

And then talking about competition legislation so people can compare prices? Seriously? I can compare prices now. Why not require gas stations to post sings so I can see the prices posted?