Is it illegal to sell out of date food?

nesssie1702

geordie_joe wrote: »

But what do you mean by "Out of date" ?

There are 3 "dates"

"Best Before", "Sell by" and "Use By".

According the the Food Labelling Regulations 1996, as amended there are two types of "indication of minimum durability"

"Use By" - used on high risk foodstuffs

"Best Before" - used as an indication of the quality of the food.

It is illegal for a retailer to sell an item after the "use by" date displayed on it. Even if they were to give it away, they'd still be breaking the law.

With a "best before" date, the retailer could be prosecuted if selling an item after the date, if the food is not of the nature, quality or substance demanded by the consumer.

Environmental Health Officers (EHOs) also deal with this as well as Trading Standards, depending what part of the country you are in.

royalist

Some people have the impression that there's a switch in the package and as soon as the expiry date is reached it instantly becomes unfit for consumption.In fact goods are dated on a "worst case" scenario , in most cases the item will be perfectly OK for a considerable period after the date.We survived perfectly well in the days before food was dated, we managed without fridges too and guess what-food poisoning was far less common then than now.