ASDA Fish Pie Use By Date conundrum

Stompa

We sometimes buy Asda chilled fish pies, these:

https://groceries.asda.com/product/british/asda-fish-pie/1000187931421

which says 'Typically fresh for 4 days'. We've probably had quite a few over the years without any problems.

However, on Mar 14 we had one delivered which had a 'Use By' date of Apr 10, which struck me as an extraordinarily long 'Use By' date for a product like this. It looked a bit dodgy, so I chucked it away and got a refund from them.

Today we've had another one delivered with a 'Use By' date of Apr 30. I'm mystified, is there any way that these 'Use by' dates could actually be correct?

sarah1972

It’s only 10% fish and probably lots of preservatives at a guess to keep it fresher for longer. 

Stompa

sarah1972 said:

It’s only 10% fish and probably lots of preservatives at a guess to keep it fresher for longer. 

Even so, previously I doubt we've ever had one with a 'Use By' date more than a week ahead, it seems odd that it's suddenly jumped to almost 4 weeks. Thanks.

sarah1972

Stompa said:

sarah1972 said:

It’s only 10% fish and probably lots of preservatives at a guess to keep it fresher for longer. 

Even so, previously I doubt we've ever had one with a 'Use By' date more than a week ahead, it seems odd that it's suddenly jumped to almost 4 weeks. Thanks.

Yes I agree with you. 

My Nan buys a lot of ready meals and some of those have a doubtful 3 or 4 weeks date, makes me wonder what’s in them. X

General_Grant

Stompa said:

We sometimes buy Asda chilled fish pies, these:

https://groceries.asda.com/product/british/asda-fish-pie/1000187931421

which says 'Typically fresh for 4 days'. We've probably had quite a few over the years without any problems.

However, on Mar 14 we had one delivered which had a 'Use By' date of Apr 10, which struck me as an extraordinarily long 'Use By' date for a product like this. It looked a bit dodgy, so I chucked it away and got a refund from them.

Today we've had another one delivered with a 'Use By' date of Apr 30. I'm mystified, is there any way that these 'Use by' dates could actually be correct?

I would check what the context is regarding "typically fresh for 4 days".  I think it may be that they are suggesting you shouldn't count on the product being "fresh" beyond that, depending on what was available when your order was picked.
It seems to me to be something which relates to on-line ordering.

In store, you might well find the longer dated items - but you would be doing the picking and could see exactly what was available at the time.

Stompa

General_Grant said:

Stompa said:

We sometimes buy Asda chilled fish pies, these:

https://groceries.asda.com/product/british/asda-fish-pie/1000187931421

which says 'Typically fresh for 4 days'. We've probably had quite a few over the years without any problems.

However, on Mar 14 we had one delivered which had a 'Use By' date of Apr 10, which struck me as an extraordinarily long 'Use By' date for a product like this. It looked a bit dodgy, so I chucked it away and got a refund from them.

Today we've had another one delivered with a 'Use By' date of Apr 30. I'm mystified, is there any way that these 'Use by' dates could actually be correct?

In store, you might well find the longer dated items - but you would be doing the picking and could see exactly what was available at the time.

Thanks, that's an interesting thought, I'll take a look next time I'm in store.

My suspicion though is that the pickers don't take the slightest notice of 'Use by' dates. If they did, we wouldn't periodically get items delivered that are either already out of date or not within the 'typically fresh' period.