Sold food well past its sell-by date - who to complain to?

Minerva69

I do my grocery shopping online and get it delivered by Tesco's every week. This week I ordered 2 packets of fruit cups (fruit pieces in juice) for my 2 year old daughter, because they were buy one get one free. The ones that Tesco's sent are both 3 MONTHS past their sell-by date.

Obviously I am going to complain to Tesco's and ask for a refund, but I feel that this should be reported further as these items should not have even been on the store shelves. It makes me worry about what else this store is selling that they shouldn't be. Would Trading Standards be the best place to report this to? Thanks.

Hintza

Personally i would just report it to Tesco in the first instance and see how they respond. You can then decide whether it requires further action.

gyzmo

Go straight to environmental Health / trading Standards. Ive said it loads of times before, but this practice is illegal and Tescos are bloody B*****S for doing this.

If this food had gone off and caused your daughter to be ill, few would be saying otherwise.

woohoo_postingid

Hintza wrote:

Personally i would just report it to Tesco in the first instance and see how they respond. You can then decide whether it requires further action.

Agreed - mistakes do happen. Give them a chance to sort it out.

prettypennies

I had this with some cereal bars from Tesco. They were several months past their best before date. I took them back to the store and they just gave me a refund.

It is no wonder with the size of some of the Tesco stores that stuff is left languishing on the shelves.

Tesco have got too big for their boots and need bringing down a peg or two.

Jay-Jay_4

I bought some steak that made us all really ill. Tesco refunded the exact amount and sent me a letter to state "sorry about that, it won't happen again!" :rolleyes:

I doubt they'll be at all bothered about your fruit cups to be honest.

dazco

Just to let you know how seriously this is viewed by the authorities, read this.
http://www.meatinfo.co.uk/articles/25525/Mouldy-pie-fine-for-Morrisons.aspx

Sherbetlover

I think a store can be fined a large amount of money for each item out of date on their shelves (if found by trading standards). It is something like £2000 per item. That's how serious the authorities take it.

gyzmo

woohoo_postingid wrote:

Agreed - mistakes do happen. Give them a chance to sort it out.

Mistakes do happen and companies should and do pay for it (or better still learn). This attitude is very disturbing. If the poster of this has a cafe or restaurant, please let me know so i don't go anywhere near it...

stressedaah30

i saw in my local tesco baby food thaat bb4 date was nov 06 i reported to cs and they didnt even say oh dear or what they where gonna do just thanks for letting me know

withabix

Food CAN be sold after the BEST BEFORE date.

Food CANNOT be sold after the USE BY date.

Both terms mean exactly what they say.

In terms of the OP's problem, it depends if it was BEST BEFORE or USE BY.