Supermarket out of date smoothie

m4dh4tter

quickstepqueen wrote: »

You asked what others might have done in your situation. I was quite shocked that some posts said "get over it".

From reading your post it seemed that you felt the Assistant Manager was polite but slightly blase. I think what you would have liked was for the Assistant Manager to have been a little more sympathetic and apologetic. You did right in returning to the store and pointing out the error. In a large store I guess you'd expect them to have tighter control over their use by dates but things do occassionally get missed I suppose. Thankfully you and your grandaughter were fine despite drinking the smoothie past its use by date.

I think the point you're trying to make is that it could have been possible that the item (or any other item past its use by date) could have been harmful, especially to anyone who was vulnerable (child, pregnant lady etc) and that you wanted the assistant manager to acknowledge to you that they were aware of this possibility and they would look into it.

Thank you.
You put it across so well, its exactly the point I was trying to get across .
I have since been in touch with head office, they seemed genuinely horrified and took my details.
I received a call from the area Manager shortly after, they assured me they would tighten checks made and admitted that chilled drinks was probably an area not classed as so important but that would now change.
I was thanked for bringing it to there attention and offered a good will gesture of a £25 voucher.
No one from the store will be in trouble as I made a point of telling the area Manager that all the old stock was taken off the shelves as soon I went in the store to originally complain.

System

Not bad. Apart from the OPs initial post it only took 22 posts to get to a 'will nobody think of the children' type mention.

Fuzzy_Duck

It wouldn't bother me that much to be honest- it was only an out of date smoothie and unlikely to cause any harm. If it has been out of date meat it would be more important to me as it could make someone seriously ill (although you'd like to think people would notice their meat was rank before eating it!)

I think you need to keep in mind that supermarkets usually put on an earlier use by date than needed for safety reasons, hence why so many people simply smell the product if they're unsure. Obviously the smoothie didn't look, smell or taste funny or you would have noticed.

I do however think it's a cheek of the manager to not give a proper apology, and then only clear the remaining out of date stock when you threatened to buy more to send to trading standards. As an above poster said it might be worth complaining to head office, who will probably give you a voucher as an apology. Stick to the facts though and focus on the manager's attitude rather than the 'what ifs'.

jamespir

omg id get a solicitor quick

then id get your grand daughter tested god knows what she might of picked up

then sue the supermarket

pulliptears

Ive just cooked some Mince for a Shepherds Pie for tea, the date on it was 5th September. It smelled ok, tasted ok when fried and I have not yet dropped down dead.

I have eggs in my egg basket dated July. They don't float when you test them and are perfectly edible with no side effects.

If I stuck rigidly to the supermarkets sell by/use by system I would be over Tesco now buying a dozen more eggs and a big pack of mince beef. As it stands, dinner is cooked and all is well.

People need to start using common sense. If a product expires on say 7th September its not going to spontaneously combust in your fridge. If it smells ok and tastes ok then chances are its ok.

jamespir

pulliptears wrote: »

Ive just cooked some Mince for a Shepherds Pie for tea, the date on it was 5th September. It smelled ok, tasted ok when fried and I have not yet dropped down dead.

I have eggs in my egg basket dated July. They don't float when you test them and are perfectly edible with no side effects.

People need to start using common sense. If a product expires on say 7th September its not going to spontaneously combust in your fridge. If it smells ok and tastes ok then chances are its ok.

i agree completly :T

Lip_Stick

I often eat food that's out of date, but I wouldn't ever consider giving it to my toddler. I've a cast iron stomach, but they are a lot more sensitive to these things, and the effects of food poisoning can be a lot more dramatic.

I'd certainly be annoyed if a supermarket was selling food past it's sell by date without notices to say so.

OP, it wasn't Netto's by any chance was it? I know someone who shops at one store who said they're always selling food full price, that's gone past their dates. Even when it's pointed out it's still there days later.

joeyboy

whether it's "best before" "use by" or "sell by", the Supermarket should not have them on the shelves after any of the dates. I work in a supermarket and date checking all the short dated/unpopular products is incredibly important, as is rotating stock when replenishing it. If we had an inspection by health and safety and they found one product that was past it's best before, let alone a lot of them and it being the USE BY date, which is more serious, we'd be in a hell of a lot of trouble.

OP if you're concerned about their seemingly relaxed attitude to it, contact environmental health and report the store in question, it will be anonymous and they will send someone to discuss the issue and thoroughly search for any more outdated items on the shelves. We got a complaint by a single customer(told as much by the officer who came to inspect us) and damn those environmental health folks don't mess about. They were checking all our refrigeration and frozen areas with infra-red thermometers, having a full tour of the place, quizzing us on all business practices etc. Thankfully they said we were ok and it was clearly an issue with a supplier and nothing we had done, but still...eek.:rotfl:

lindos90

There is a big difference though...as a consumer I always get food with the longest sellby date on that I can, its MSE sense, as the food will last longer and so more chance of it being eaten while its still ok, than wasted and thrown away.

I do eat food after that date if I think its ok, I have the right to decide to eat food outside the sellby date. I agree common sense, look at its condition, smell it etc.

HOWEVER as a business, the shop should not be selling items after the sell by date, its not up to the assistant to 'smell out of date food and decide its ok to sell or not', different rules apply here.

Not everyone is able to or will notice if sell by dates have passed, and by the reaction of the person the OP spoke to, they dont see it as a big deal. Im guessing this shop doesnt bother removing out of date stock due to apathy, ignorance of the law or to deliberatly get rid of old stock at a profit.

I wouldnt be looking for compo though, but would be tempted to contact TS/EH. If its a one off, nothing will come of it. If there are more complaints logged, then hopefully the shop will be rightly told to pull thier socks up, and will have to be more careful in future.