anyone know if it is legal to sell cheese which states 'best before 11 sept' on the 11 sept as my mum got some from te**o. when she noticed it she was told they could sell it at full price and had to suffer a big patronising stupid senile old biddy speech from the manager.
any info b4 i go down there to have a 'polite chat' with him would be real nice
cheers richie

 

If it says best BEFORE a date then surely thats exactly what it means, not best until and including?



[This message has been edited by annbuckley (edited 19 September 2001).]

 

..or you could say before the day is out. Dont most products have a sell before and use before date on now days?

 

Howdy,

Studied Catering Law at college. It is legal to sell something on or outside its best before date, although most places won't or reduce the price. Best before mean just what it says, the product is guaranteed to be at its best colour/flavour wise before this date and after that date there is some chance it may get slightly impaired - although still very safe to eat.
Sell by I think is a supermarket thing and is just to ensure their stock is rotated properly and sold so that it still has a reasonable shelf life once you've bought it (depending on what it is).
Use by on the other hand is very strict. Something is given a use by if after that time there could be a risk of bacteria etc to the food (eg raw meat). NEVER ignore a use by date - they are there to protect you, you should never see items with this on selling in a shop after the date, although they can sell it on the day itself (usually reduced). Trading Standards would be interested to here of shops constantly flaunting the Use By...... If you decided to eat it after this date - its your risk. (although some things are not as bad as others, eg milk has a use by, and even when it has gone sour is still totally safe to drink - tho' it does taste nasty )

Hope that helps

 

FSA have recently revised this.

Sell by - for chilled/fresh good must be sold by or on the date displayed
Best Before - non food type specific, merely means it will be at its best before the date, but is edible after, just with the risk of imperfect quality
Use By - (again chilled/fresh goods) usually used in conjuction with Sell by date means it should not be eaten after

What ever it says, Tesco were legally allowed to sell it!

 

My general law, is if I ask a reasonable question and am patronised by some to$$pot, they can shove their shop up their Khyber (how topical!).

Other than that who cares? Manners cost nothing I seem to recall. And your old lady was a customer, no?

 

From the horses mouth aka Food Standards Agency...

 

Blimey - so, from the top of my head from almost 10 years ago, I wasn't that far off then

 

Went shopping in my Local T***o a few weeks ago and was getting a few bags of crisps. Out of curiousity I put my hand right to the bottom of the pile of crisps (they keep all the loose bags in big containers) and pulled out a bag and was quite surprised to find it around 6 months out of date. Obviously what they do when they stack the shelves is just place the new bags on the top of the pile. I have repeated this the last few times I have been shopping and the same thing has happened each time, all the crisps at the bottom are well out of date.

Now I can't be bothered to report them at the moment but they have started putting notices on people who park in the mother and toddler spaces (remember that little argument on here?) so if they get all shirty with me I might just have to grass them up. Any idea the sort of fine and bad publicity in the local paper they would get?

 

thanx peeps
richie

 

I work in retail and anything with todays date on or older, gets a reduced sticker on and is cheaper

chel

 

I work in retail and as far as i know, anything with todays date on or older, should have reduced price on it , making it cheaper to buy.
chel

 

Scoobs should have a best before date

Take out Curry - Best Before Hangover!

 

I tend to shop at Waitrose, and they usually drop the price of stuff like convenience microwave meals, pies, pasties, milk and other items (with a week or so normal shelf life) two days before the "use by" date.

They don't end up with out-of-date stock, and customer can get a bargain (especially the pensioners who can spend all day scouring the shelves for such goods ).

mb

 

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by JoeyDeacon:
<B>Went shopping ...a few bags of crisps....find it around 6 months out of date. Any idea the sort of fine and bad publicity in the local paper they would get?[/quote]

Joey - They keep these specially for the lowlifes who steal the parent/child spaces. As you would see if you bothered to read the above posts, Best before dates used for foods which can safely be kept for longer periods of time. After the date, the food may still be safe to eat but it may no longer be at its best. So no fine AFAIK

 

If anyone has any out of date food then contact Scoop. The man will eat/drink anything hehehehe