Knowingly selling out of date produce

Mee

Hi All,


I know this has come up before, but this scenario really concerned me. I noticed at the weekend a supermarket had put in the reduced produce area several 1 day out of date produce (packed salad and packed veg). The out of date items had no reduced labels. I mentioned to one of the managers that items from yesterday were in the crates, he just said there shouldn't be, and walked away.


The next time I came round he had spoken to an assistant who then reduced the out of date items.


This seems to me a deliberate flouting of the law.


Thank you in advance for your opinions as I may not be able to reply the same day.

System

Did they have 'Best before' or 'sell by' dates on them

Mee

Can't remember, but will check their Watercress later.

stephen77

If its bagged salad, its going to be a use by date.


Not sure on the reduced sections work. But when I have seen people scan items in, I would assume the machine is set up so they can not put yellow stickers on "use by date" products that are out of date?

pawsies

Is it that big of a deal?

I mean if you are bothered, don't buy and walk away. Clearly the contents are ok and someone will happily eat them after their 'special' date. No need to increase food waste unnecessarily.
We really should get rid of best before dates, they serve no purpose other than to get people in a fret because they might get food poisoning over a lettuce that 'went off' yesterday...

Mee

Yes it was a 'use by' date and I didn't buy the out of date items which had no reduced labels on them to start with.
My concern (not fret) was that the manager seemed to be aware of 'mistake', but took no action to correct it...

stephen77

pawsies wrote: »

Is it that big of a deal?

I mean if you are bothered, don't buy and walk away. Clearly the contents are ok and someone will happily eat them after their 'special' date. No need to increase food waste unnecessarily.
We really should get rid of best before dates, they serve no purpose other than to get people in a fret because they might get food poisoning over a lettuce that 'went off' yesterday...

Its a use by date, which are often there for valid reasons and the contents might not be okay especially for the elderly and ill etc.

dlusman

Mee wrote: »

Yes it was a 'use by' date and I didn't buy the out of date items which had no reduced labels on them to start with.
My concern (not fret) was that the manager seemed to be aware of 'mistake', but took no action to correct it...

If it was a "use by" then it is illegal to sell - even at a reduced price.
"Best before" can be sold at any time ( even at full price )

Cycrow

stephen77 wrote: »

If its bagged salad, its going to be a use by date.


Not sure on the reduced sections work. But when I have seen people scan items in, I would assume the machine is set up so they can not put yellow stickers on "use by date" products that are out of date?

The machines dont work like that. They wont stop you from putting labels on out of date stuff, as the machine will have no idea of the use by date.

cutestkids

A few weeks ago I found over a dozen packs of strawberries reduced to 25p a pack in my local co-op. When the checkout operater put the first one through the till would not accept it and a message had flagged up saying out of date. She called the supervisor who confirmed that they use by date was the day before and she could not overide the till.
I was dissapointed as I had planned on making jam

ArtDecoGirly

pawsies wrote: »

Is it that big of a deal?

I mean if you are bothered, don't buy and walk away. Clearly the contents are ok and someone will happily eat them after their 'special' date. No need to increase food waste unnecessarily.
We really should get rid of best before dates, they serve no purpose other than to get people in a fret because they might get food poisoning over a lettuce that 'went off' yesterday...

It is a big deal if you're elderly or young/ill and that lettuce (which is in the top 7 of things most likely to give you food poisoning) that 'went off' gave them salmonella or E. coli. Yes. A big deal indeed.