Is it illegal to sell out of date food?

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  • If it wasn't for 'Best Before' dates, then sites like Approved Foods, wouldn't do any business, and no one would ever get any bargains.
    Even on frozen food, its only a guideline to the taste/flavour quality, it won't do you any harm.
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  • I have a large Co-Op near me,two weeks ago I picked up some Mince Pies when I went to the till the girl scanned them and said they were out of date by one day,she said the till automatically flags it up.
    She called the supervisor over and offered me new ones, I said not to worry can I have those a bit cheaper.
    The supervisor said sorry they have to go.

    Do other stores have this 'flag' system or is it relatively new?
  • LittleVoice
    LittleVoice Posts: 8,975
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    SnowBelle wrote: »
    I have a large Co-Op near me,two weeks ago I picked up some Mince Pies when I went to the till the girl scanned them and said they were out of date by one day,she said the till automatically flags it up.
    She called the supervisor over and offered me new ones, I said not to worry can I have those a bit cheaper.
    The supervisor said sorry they have to go.

    Do other stores have this 'flag' system or is it relatively new?

    1 - surely mince pies have a "best before" date, not "eat by"?

    2 - the tills could only flag up out of date items if the bar code included a date as well as a price in the coding - perhaps there is an alert to check the date rather than that the till would actually do that

    3 - what a waste if they really threw them out when they were edible - and they had a purchaser lined up
  • juno
    juno Posts: 6,553
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    SnowBelle wrote: »
    I have a large Co-Op near me,two weeks ago I picked up some Mince Pies when I went to the till the girl scanned them and said they were out of date by one day,she said the till automatically flags it up.
    She called the supervisor over and offered me new ones, I said not to worry can I have those a bit cheaper.
    The supervisor said sorry they have to go.

    Do other stores have this 'flag' system or is it relatively new?
    I explained the system in a different thread. Basically if something is reduced with an orange sticker, the person doing the reduction has to choose the reason (ie short dated or damaged) and can then input the best before date. This information is included in the barcode so that the till will flag it up. However, it does rely on the person choosing the right reason and then also selecting the right date.
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  • Zeddy
    Zeddy Posts: 159 Forumite
    I realised today that I had picked up and bought yesterday some ham which had a use by date of 29th Dec, so two days before I bought the ham. I emailed Sainsburys this afternoon who within 20mins had apologised greatly and put £5 worth of nectar points on my card.
  • Selling goods past their use dates is an offence and is one of strict liability. I always buy them if I can, call environmental health and then let the supermarket know I have done this as well.

    You can then have grounds to sue and make some money, however this only applies to 'use by' and not best before or sell by.

    Use by goods are perishable items such as diary products
  • bribrian
    bribrian Posts: 1,498 Forumite
    Selling goods past their use dates is an offence and is one of strict liability. I always buy them if I can, call environmental health and then let the supermarket know I have done this as well.

    You can then have grounds to sue and make some money, however this only applies to 'use by' and not best before or sell by.

    Use by goods are perishable items such as diary products

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  • tealady
    tealady Posts: 3,742
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    poohspals wrote: »
    I think that they have a legal obligation to make the buyers aware that the product is after its date.

    No they don't. Its a case of Caveat Emptor as the shop is not breaking the law in the case of best before dates.
    Find out who you are and do that on purpose (thanks to Owain Wyn Jones quoting Dolly Parton)
  • embo70
    embo70 Posts: 162 Forumite
    at our Spar, if you take something to the till thats out of date they will not sell it to you!
  • As a manager in a well known brand and everything we sell has a best before/sell by date on..it is not againest the law but customer must be told its out of date..also i know if a item is sold which is past date its the manager who is fined not the store and it can be anything up to 20 thousand pound.
    I am shocked that a store manager who allow themselves to be open to such a large fine..i know personally i am very carefull with my dates, yeah odd time one may slip though to till but i would never allow myself or staff to sell close to or past date.
    I would personnally not let it go i would inform trading standards/environmental health..you might be able to see the dates yourself but from dealing with customers daily not all can see dates for example i have to write in marker for one old lady as she can't see dates well...how would you feel if a lil old lady bought something well out of date and ended up really ill
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