sold meat 3 days out of "use by date"

Money_User

sirmarcus wrote: »

See you have just edited your posting !! Tut tut always make sure of your postings and accusations before submittiing them !!

A casserole made with a ton of onions will smell so strongly anyway and will be overpowered by that smell.

Hope this helps or do you need anymore clarification ?;)

Sirmarcus, the meat in my fridge is not surrounded by onions, neither does the milk I drink contain onions. It's not really going to cause me a problem when deducing whether or not I'll eat it.

You can carry on with your links with food containing onions to mask the smell to your hearts content but they're not really relevant to whether or not I'll through food out!

So we'll just leave it that you can't find a link stating people eating food past it's sell-by date is a major cause of food poisening, the original point I made you've since attempted to dissprove.

And I'll reserve the right to edit my posts if I feel I have something to add to their clarity!

jammydodger1000

benrsmith31077 wrote: »

Being past the Use-by renders it unfit.

Think the OP was totally right to kick up such a fuss. Hopefully the shop in questions has tightened up its stock rotation procedures.


To those that think OP was over-reacting, that meat could have made some one very ill or even killed someone elderly or frail. The manager should have been aware of that and aware that he could be prosecuted if it did. An immediate apology, refund and investigation into why it was sold would have been appropriate in this case.

Firstly being past the use by does not render food unfit, it is however an offence under the food labelling regulations to sell food past its use by.

Secondly there is nothing to indicate that the food was in any way dangerous. All the use by means is that beyond that date the manufacturer can not guarantee the food is safe. That is a very different thing from stating that it is unsafe.

Even with adhering to the use by dates common sense needs to be adopted. If frozen, fresh chicken will obviously keep long beyond its useby, if left on the parcel shelf of a car on a hot day that same chicken could be lethal after a few hours. Storage is just as much a factor in whether food is safe or not as age.

As for the FSA not taking the view that "mistakes happen" the Food Law Code of Practice would suggest otherwise to quote the final paragraphs of page 52

There are various factors against prosecution including:
• the likelihood of a nominal penalty; and
• the offence was committed as a result of a genuine mistake or misunderstanding
(this must be balanced against the seriousness of the offence)

It is of course just a small excerpt from a document some 182 pages long but i can assure you that the FSA and the enforcement bodies are well aware that mistakes happen and will only prosecute as a last resort.

Full Food Law Code of Practice is available on the FSA website under Enforcement/How enforcement works

An example of a number of breaches which did not go before a court is available, if you search for "out of date" on getwokingham.co.uk Prosecution is always a last resort, there are many cases where businesses are not prosecuted for these breaches it's just generally you don't hear about them.

sirmarcus

Money_User wrote: »

I'll i'll reserve the right to edit my posts if I feel I have something to add to their clarity!

Yep but you haven't added something for clarity ! You have instead completely changed your post, arguments and accusations three times to date.

Money_User wrote: »

Sirmarcus, the meat in my fridge is not surrounded by onions, neither does the milk I drink contain onions. It's not really going to cause me a problem when deducing whether or not I'll eat it.

You can carry on with your links with food containing onions to mask the smell to your hearts content but they're not really relevant to whether or not I'll through food out!

But you were giving advise to other MSE users that was factually incorrect, misleading and possibly even dangerous :

Money_User wrote: »

It's not off!

Thats the thing. I don't need a label to tell me when somethings gone off. I'll use my eyes and nose and also cook it properly. The vast majority of food poisening cases are where people don't know how to cook food properly anyway.

The website http://www.ehow.com/how_2104485_tell-food-has-gone-bad.html clearly demonstrates this. That is people should not rely on their eyes, noses and cooking properly only to avoid food poisoning.

Hope this helps.:)

Money_User

sirmarcus wrote: »

You have instead completely changed your post, arguments and accusations three times to date.

What from eating food past it's use-by date isn't a major cause of food poisening, to eating food past it's use-by date isn't a major cause of food poisening, and then back to eating food past it's use-by date isn't a major cause of food poisening?

Welshwoofs

pulliptears wrote: »

The meat in question was 3 days over the sell by. 3 Days. Now if it was bright green, slimy and a fortnight out of date I could fully understand the furore, but 3 days?

Perhaps also worth pointing out that supermarket meat has been hanging for no time at all (17 days on average for beef) and it doesn't suddenly become toxic the moment the use by date is up. Personally I like really well hung meat (35 days for beef) so I would not put a lot of store in use by dates on fresh meat, I'll pick things up from the reduced shelf and use them a week later as long as they are not pre-prepared.

gordikin

giz1972 hasn't been here (logged on) for a while...maybe they've given themselves food poisoning?

giz1972

Hi All. I'm still alive.
Thought I’d give you an update of what happened.
The area manager got in touch with me within 48hrs and was apologetic, he also explained that he would be speaking to the store manager on how he could have resolved the matter in house and to retrain the staff on the importance of USE BY DATES and the consequences of what could happen.
Anyway he sent me a good will voucher and a letter, i used the voucher at the new store nearby, yesterday.
Wait for this.......Again i found a ham joint 6 days out of use by date, so i spoke to the manager about using the voucher and showed the letter, she was about to say that there would be no worries at this store until i showed the joint...
Had the same old excuse about checking dates every day and it's a one off...i just said well this is 6 days, i know all about their checking system and the tight staffing they have.
I said I’d leave it at that being a one off, until i picked up some coleslaw out of use by.. I just passed it on to a staff member to give to the manager as i couldn't be bothered to listen to more excuses.
This is why i thought I’d come on today just to say that this must be a common occurrence with this supermarket, I’ll be sending a letter to the area manager just to say that his words are not being practiced and if i find anymore items i might just take it further next time.
I'm not interested in reading the responses of freegan brigade who would eat food served to them off a donkeys backside...laws and procedures are there to protect you. A friend’s child ate a chocolate mousse out of use by date by a couple of days and was sick later, bringing it back up. Young and old people are more susceptible to these kinds of things and that’s why these supermarkets shouldn't get away with just fobbing off customers with excuses and saying its human accidental error. Would they be so lenient if you accidently left the shop with an item?...No, they would prosecute you.

sarahg1969

"A friend’s child ate a chocolate mousse out of use by date by a couple of days and was sick later, bringing it back up."

Probably nothing to do with the fact that it was just a couple of days out of date. They don't magically turn at midnight - they give themselves plenty of leaway. And anyway, it's unlikely that anything in a chocolate mousse would make you ill.

dzug1

benrsmith31077 wrote: »

No, I am not. A Use-by date is not a guide, it is an absolute for a reason. It indicates that food past this date is unfit for consumption because it is dangerous,
!

But it doesn't indicate that at all. It indicates that the probability of it being unfit has reached a level that some bureaucrat thinks is unacceptable. There's going to be a margin of safety in that - quire a high one.

In legal terms it's still an absolute, but not in food safety terms.

giz1972

Sorry Dr Sarahg1969,

Facts are, this happened; it's your body telling you this isn't right for you. This wasn't a supermarkets fault; it was the parents for not throwing it away. A couple of days she told me. I’m suspecting more for this to happen. Don't get me wrong, I’ve bought reduced goods before, but i damn right make sure it's eaten on that day or next.
It's up to you if you want to take the risk, maybe you have a fantastic digestive system and everyone should send you their out of date food for you to enjoy.
It's the same old story from the "if it’s not green, it can't be mean" brigade. When you work and assess with/about food and understand the system then you’re a tad precautionary.
Maybe there should be a law for those who can buy or even have it free, out of use by date food and throw away their legal rights if they fall ill or die eating the food.