good news/bad news on co op cheese deal

liz.._4

I went into co op today and spotted some bogof cheese at 49p, bargain! So I took 2 to the checkout but the girl refused to serve me as the date expired on the 8th (yesterday) She called the manager (!) and he explained that it was against trading standards to sell it to me. I pointed out that I had bought things that were out of date before (unintentionally) but he still refused and said that the whole of the fridge was to be cleared of said cheese and binned.

AAArgh! What is going on? There is nothing wrong with it and its all now in the bin instead of my fridge. :mad:

What a criminal waste of food!

zorber

ye but if they had sold it they can be done by trading standards for selling out of date product, what they did was technically right after all

kittykate_2

it shouldn't have even been on the shelves. £5000 fine for each out of date product...

Edindevon

kittykate wrote:

it shouldn't have even been on the shelves. £5000 fine for each out of date product...

Out of interest, does anyone know if there is a legal difference between 'Sell By' dates and 'Best Before' dates.

I can see that some products are a health risk if you eat them after their expiry date, while others will simply be less than perfect.

The reason I ask is that I bought some imported beer from a local wine merchants the other day and the Best Before date was April 2006 and I am wondering whether I should warn him about potential problems with this.

Edindevon

ajmcc_2

Edindevon wrote:

Out of interest, does anyone know if there is a legal difference between 'Sell By' dates and 'Best Before' dates.

I can see that some products are a health risk if you eat them after their expiry date, while others will simply be less than perfect.

The reason I ask is that I bought some imported beer from a local wine merchants the other day and the Best Before date was April 2006 and I am wondering whether I should warn him about potential problems with this.

Edindevon

It is against the law to sell items which are past their "Use By" date.
Retailers can sell items past their "Best Before" date if it is brought to the customers attention that it is past its Best Before date and as long as it does not exceed 6 weeks from that date.

hb1444

Sorry but I think the manager and cashier were right. I know that food out of date by a day may be OK to eat, but when it is something like cheese or meat or something that spoils easily, try and keep away from it! But Coop should put it in its reduced section!

Cerenia

They were right to do that, ESPECIALLY with dairy products, they're the ones you have to be strictest with, easiest to rishk food poisoning and the risk of sueing them.

firespire

If you wanted it and they were going to chuck it they should have given it to you free. It would have been against the law to sell it.

If I was the manager I would have stuck the stock in in a clean bin bag said it was waste and if you wanted to take it is on your head if you have an upset tummy (1 day over is not a problem if it is vacuum packed.) Commercial waste costs money the less he puts in his bin the less he has to pay.

kittykate_2

They can't do that because it'll mess with the companies stock/waste/theft records. If it isn't down as being sold and it isn't down as being waste then it will be presumed to have been stolen.

stpandp

kittykate wrote:

They can't do that because it'll mess with the companies stock/waste/theft records. If it isn't down as being sold and it isn't down as being waste then it will be presumed to have been stolen.

Tho there was an article (?TV programme) some months ago about people who save money by going through the bins at supermarkets and use stuff that has been thrown away - not all "poor" people, but many middle class eco-aware types!

kittykate_2

stpandp wrote:

Tho there was an article (?TV programme) some months ago about people who save money by going through the bins at supermarkets and use stuff that has been thrown away - not all "poor" people, but many middle class eco-aware types!

Yeah, they have to scan it all first and mark it up as waste. They don't just take it of the shelves and throw it in the bin.