Fraud with bread in Albania: “Don’t buy it after 5:00 p.m.” / The shop assistant reveals the shocking reason

“She heat it up and sell it as fresh”:

The bakery shop assistant reveals the daily deception that most customers never notice. The bread you buy in the afternoon may be from the morning… or worse, from the previous day!

A concerning testimony has recently been published on “Reddit Albania,” where an anonymous shop assistant working in a bakery in Tirana sheds light on a widespread practice that many customers are unaware of: reselling non-fresh bread as if it has just come out of the oven.

According to her account, the bread produced early in the morning and not sold during the day is not thrown away or written off as waste, but is often put back on sale in the afternoon using the simple trick of “reheating.”

“There are times when the bread that isn’t sold in the morning isn’t thrown away. They just warm it up a bit and put it back on the shelves, often in the same bags as before. It happens more when business is slow,” she writes.

The “freshness” deception

At first glance, the bread placed on the shelf after 5 p.m. looks fresh out of the oven warm, steaming, and with an aroma easily mistaken for freshly baked bread. But in reality, it may have spent hours on the shelf or, in some cases, may even be leftover stock from the previous day.

“They warm it slightly in the oven or place it inside heating-mode refrigerators to create steam. The customer thinks it just came out of the oven, but in fact, it’s bread that has surpassed the normal daily turnover,” the testimony continues.

Economic gain versus consumer transparency

Although this practice does not pose a direct health risk, the concern is related to quality, honesty, and the consumer’s right to know what they are buying. For a basic product like bread consumed daily in every Albanian household freshness is an essential expectation.

“There is no health risk, but it’s a matter of ethics. People buy warm bread because they believe it’s fresh. They don’t know it was reheated just to avoid throwing it away,” the shop assistant adds.

A widespread practice in many bakeries?

Comments following the post suggest this phenomenon is not isolated. Some social media users admitted they had similar suspicions, especially on rainy days or weekends when foot traffic is lower and bakery shelves are “surprisingly” filled with warm bread in the late afternoon.

While there are no strict inspections targeting this type of manipulation, food safety experts advise customers to check the bread’s moisture, elasticity, and crust—indicators that can help distinguish freshly baked from reheated bread.

What does the law say?

Albania’s food code requires accurate labeling and honest information to consumers regarding the nature and production date of food products. However, with bakery goods—where labeling is often absent—the responsibility falls on the business’s integrity.

A call for greater awareness

This honest testimony from a bakery worker has sparked a quiet debate about transparency in Albania’s bread industry. Although there is no direct health threat, consumers have the right to know whether the bread they are buying is truly fresh or simply reheated to preserve the “fresh” appearance.

In a market where the consumer is not always protected, this voice serves as a reminder to demand more honesty, quality, and respect in the everyday products we consume.

“KORÇA BOOM”