“Why are these called dirty,” Mr Nazarbayev said pointing at a pile of unwashed root vegetables – possibly carrots, possibly potatoes. “These are normal.”

Carrefour’s Kazakhstan director, Stephane Maurier, who was walking around the supermarket with Nazarbayev, explained. “We have clean and dirty,” he said.

Mr Nazarbayev, though, wasn’t impressed. “These are better than the clean ones,” he said and again pointed at the unwashed vegetables. “You don’t know what they are washed with.”

Things didn’t improve when Mr Nazarbayev, looking stiff in his tailored suit but smiling and apparently enjoying his trip to the supermarket, visited other sections.

He said the bananas were not ripe enough, told Mr Maurier croissants were unhealthy and dangerous and had to clarify with an elderly woman shopping for bread that 70 tenge ($0.2) was an average price for a loaf.

This particular Carrefour was located in the Grand Park shopping centre in Almaty. The franchise holder is Dubai-based Majid Al Futtaim Group which operates other Carrefour shops around the world.

It was the first of nine planned stores that Carrefour wants to open in Kazakhstan. Five of the stores will be located in Almaty; four in Astana.

The opening of the Carrefour stores will give Kazakhstan’s battered economy a boost, create hundreds of jobs and hand Mr Nazarbayev more photo-ops in supermarkets.