Archive:Quick Questions on food safety / sell by / use by dates

voiceofreason

Pssst wrote: »

Just do what we used to do before these ridiculous dates were added.

Give it a sniff,if it smells nice check for fungal growths,if not,cook it ,eat it,enjoy.

"Ridiculous"?

These dates are added as a guideline for people, and are aimed to help them make decisions.

If they stop just one person getting sick as a result of inadvertently eating bad food, then they're a good thing.

What a silly, arrogant thing you say - very irresponsible.

<EDIT> That said, there will always be people - like the OP - who don't bother to look at the use-by dates, and then complain that they've been somehow hoodwinked. To be strictly correct, the store's well within their rights to do what they've done, and the OP has minimal comeback in this case. And to be fair - if someone cares that much about use-by dates, it's their own fault if they don't keep an eye out when they're buying food.

Not so much of a saving now, is it?

marri_lou

Oh my, you're a little ray of sunshine today aren't you?

BB1984

voiceofreason wrote: »

"Ridiculous"?

These dates are added as a guideline for people, and are aimed to help them make decisions.

If they stop just one person getting sick as a result of inadvertently eating bad food, then they're a good thing.

What a silly, arrogant thing you say - very irresponsible.

<EDIT> That said, there will always be people - like the OP - who don't bother to look at the use-by dates, and then complain that they've been somehow hoodwinked. To be strictly correct, the store's well within their rights to do what they've done, and the OP has minimal comeback in this case. And to be fair - if someone cares that much about use-by dates, it's their own fault if they don't keep an eye out when they're buying food.

Not so much of a saving now, is it?

Hmmm it's always good, on your first ever post on a board, to be as blunt and insensitive as possible towards regular posters...well done on ingratiating yourself so well! :T

BB

ps for the record - I take even "use by" dates as advisory, I ate 3 eggs the other day that had a date of before xmas....! :eek: (smelt ok!)

katholicos

If I was purchasing fresh food from Marks n Sparks I would definately expect a whoopsie sticker on food that only had a lifespan of 7 hours from the time i purchased it - you purchased it at 5pm and it had to be eaten by midnight - so while the fault may lie with you for not checking the date on the packaging, i think it's a bit naughty for them to expect full price to be paid for the meal.

They may be within their rights, but if it was me it would deter me making purchases with the in future.

Fozz

Definitely agree that the meal should have been reduced in price, my local Co-op sells things at half price if they're on the use-by date. I've been caught out myself several times in buying something not realising it's nearly out of date, it's easily done!
I have heard that use by dates have quite a wide margin of safety, and that some products are safe for a week after the date, and dairy products in particular for two weeks! May be the supermarkets wanting us to buy new stuff, or that they know that a lot of people will still eat things a few days past the date.
I recently ate a yogurt 5 days past it's date with no ill effects, (but not intentionally, I just didn't check) and my 85 year old MIL never took much notice of dates - being of a generation who grew up without them!

Errata

katholicos wrote: »

If I was purchasing fresh food from Marks n Sparks I would definately expect a whoopsie sticker on food that only had a lifespan of 7 hours from the time i purchased it - you purchased it at 5pm and it had to be eaten by midnight - so while the fault may lie with you for not checking the date on the packaging, i think it's a bit naughty for them to expect full price to be paid for the meal.

They may be within their rights, but if it was me it would deter me making purchases with the in future.

It was an evening meal, so the date/time is perfectly reasonable.

Bronnie

I think I would have just kicked myself for not noticing the date and gone ahead and eaten it asap, subject to checking it out as mentioned.
On of the reasons I stopped my online weekly food shopping was that the use-by dates on the food delivered were not as far ahead as the ones I usually manage to rootle out myself from the back of the shelves!

katholicos

Errata wrote: »

It was an evening meal, so the date/time is perfectly reasonable.

that's actually quite:rotfl:

kitschkitty

While it would be nice to get a reduction on the price of an item with a short shelf life, the shops aren't breaking any rules or laws, and it's only us shoppers who expect everything but the kitchen sink from shops these days.

That said we have the power to spend out pounds elsewhere (which influences many shops policies), which I think it what we should do if we are unhappy with service, quality etc. But I don't see how it is reasonable to harass a shop because they don't pander enough to us.

voiceofreason

kitschkitty wrote: »

While it would be nice to get a reduction on the price of an item with a short shelf life, the shops aren't breaking any rules or laws, and it's only us shoppers who expect everything but the kitchen sink from shops these days.

That said we have the power to spend out pounds elsewhere (which influences many shops policies), which I think it what we should do if we are unhappy with service, quality etc. But I don't see how it is reasonable to harass a shop because they don't pander enough to us.

Indeed, Kitschkitty.

Caveat Emptor springs to mind - there's an irony, I feel, in people coming onto a forum of a site which encourages "savvy shopping", moaning about how they feel short-changed because they didn't bother to look closely before handing their money over......