Missing BB date on crisps

Lugh_Chronain

There's some further information at WRAP if anyone is interested.

http://www.wrap.org.uk/category/materials-and-products/food

browneyedbazzi

Lugh_Chronain wrote: »

What did people do before best before, sell by and use by dates? What did people do when they used to grow and cook their own food?

They got food poisoning...or at least more of them did than do now.

stephen77

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

They got food poisoning...or at least more of them did than do now.

Or had soft crisps with no crunch. Fresh fruit that was dehydrated so loose its juicness. etc

Best before / use by dates are there to helpful and let customer have the best quality and safest food.
Though times have changed and more focus is aimed at wastage, costs of throwing away products than ever. So I am not surprised certain people want to re-look at how this is done.

chesky

I think the OP (who seems to have given up on the thread) should simply regard the experience as a lesson and always make sure she reads the 'best before' date BEFORE she buys something.

Lugh_Chronain

browneyedbazzi wrote: »

They got food poisoning...or at least more of them did than do now.

True, as we wouldn't have things like pasteurisation. But don't you think people tend to rely on others more nowadays, or at least appear to? People knew about food poisoning in the past, maybe not as much as we do today though they knew what was good for them and what wasn't. Didn't they?

There does however appear to have been some naivety prior to pasteurisation and best before dates, etc. I have heard people saying they'd eat cheese that was fairly old if it looked, tasted and smelt OK, though I wonder how much they knew about things like listeria for example.

In that respect you are right.

That said, people still get food poisoning even today, with or without best before dates. I don't know the figures for the UK though according to the WHO and CDC, every year in the USA there are 76 million foodborne illnesses, leading to 325,000 hospitalisations and 5,000 deaths.

stephen77 wrote: »

Best before / use by dates are there to helpful and let customer have the best quality and safest food.

But there still appears to be confusion over these though. Labelling needs to be made clearer as mentioned in post # 19. There does however need to be a balance as well as companies and governments would have to consider consumer safety.

stephen77 wrote: »

Though times have changed and more focus is aimed at wastage, costs of throwing away products than ever. So I am not surprised certain people want to re-look at how this is done.

Exactly, I agree, the main reason is wastage though you still have to factor in consumer safety, as mentioned above.

stephen77

Lugh_Chronain wrote: »

But there still appears to be confusion over these though. Labelling needs to be made clearer as mentioned in post # 19. There does however need to be a balance as well as companies and governments would have to consider consumer safety.

.

I personally like the system, however I am educated on the subject and understand how dates are created etc so I am probably the wrong person to ask.

To the people who get confused. How would you like the system to work? What would you suggest to have on labels?