Mandana

Well after seeing numerous posts from you guys and also recommendations from locals, we popped into a Fiesta on the way home tonight.

Got stupidly excited when I found CurleyWurleys .. and a few other bits & pieces.

BUT .. here's the shocker

On looking at the labels (yep, I know, after the event) most of the stuff we bought was out of date!

To the tune of BBE 16/10/2006 !!!

Not impressed I have to say, and disappointed too.

Oh well .. gets a definite from me

Yorkieabroad

the sell by dates are a total joke here, as are the food safety standards of most of the supermarkets I've been in.

Browsing the ethnic foods section in Kroger a few months back, found 4 packs of Mr Kipling apple pies . I know they're crap, I know they're bad for me, but I just fancied them.... Anyway, got 1 pack of them home and tried to feed them to the kids.....chorus of Yuks, Gross's etc etc....bit over the top I thought and tried one - the kids were right...mouldy pastry on the inside, and the apple goop was all solid...checked the sell by date - August 2006...but could only see that when I peeled back the import companies label which had been conveniently stuck right on top of it.

Took them back to kroger, got a refund.

Next week - groundhog day - 3packs of out of date Mr Kipling on the shelf..gave them to a shop assistant and pointed out the problem.

Next week, feeling some sympathy for Bill Murray - same palaver, but this time gave them to the manager who assured me it would be sorted. And then he obviously put them straight back on the shelf cos they were there the next week as well!! When I asked to speak to him again, the lying toerag looked me in the eye and claimed he'd never been made aware of a problem but he'd sort it out!! They knew they were way out of date but they still kept trying to sell them anyway.....

I know a guy who's a food establishment inspector at Houstons DHHS - reckons it happens all the time, but the supermarkets dont give a toss and the DHHS dont have the power (or the balls) to shut them down on out of date prepacked food.....brings a whole new emphasis to caveat emptor


Bit different on those ready roasted chickens you can buy - they are supposed to be sold within 4 hours of being put on the heated shelves, but one of the supermarkets here openly admitted to me that they wont scrap any till the store closes at 2am, even if they've been sitting there all day. that one prompted another call to my mate - got a bit more action there - the deli section was closed for about a week while they "brought it up to code".

Mandana

Sat here with my mouth open!

Taught me a lesson to check the BBE/sell by and, most importantly, eat by dates more carefully - BEFORE going to the checkout!

Thing is, the store we popped into isn't around the corner, and I can't be arsed to drive back there again. But if I don't, nothing will be done about it. Think I might ring HO .. when I get time!

krizzy

You always have to check the sell by dates...that is if you can find them...
My daughter is a receiver and a stocker at a supermarket...nothing get passed her...it goes straight in the bin if out of date even if we are just shopping...found some ready meal rice for sell 9 months out of date while shopping the other day...they mostly use kids to stock and they don't care....

TruBrit

yes, rather disturbingly that's not uncommon here.

not far from us in on Smith St is the huge Specs Warehouse where they have quite a good deli section. last time i was in there i collected a basket load of food from the shelves that was past it's sell by date. OH thought i was mad lol! i showed the goods to the food manager and asked why is out of date food constantly on the shelves? he waffled on about it being european expiry dates that didn't apply here i am quite convinced the food i collected was put back on the shelves when i left out.

lapin_windstar

But rice lasts forever so long as it's dry, doesn't it? Fair enough the Mr Kipling is going to taste rough but it's so full of sugar and highly processed that I would have guessed (just guessing, mind) that there's nothing in there that's actually going to harm anyone.

The chickens on the other hand - different story.

TruBrit

surely the sell by date is put on for a reason and so should be adhered to regardless of the goods imo. now if you want to keep said goods in your pantry for yrs then so be it.

krizzy

Not a ready meal rice... it has meat in it...I opened one and it was nasty...

Yorkieabroad

I alwasy try to, but its surprising hoe often something sneaks into the basket way past its dates. And you try getting a sell by date from someone on a pack of kroger mince (ground beef....)

Yorkieabroad

duhh - of course it doesn't apply!! Didn't you know, food sold in dollars ages slower than food sold in pounds (or euros) ... Just look at the sell by dates on a loaf of bread here!!

Yorkieabroad

You dont work for a supermarket by any chance do you. The attitude here is the sell by date doesn't matter as long as someone is willing to buy it, so I guess the store chains agree with you.

On the pies - there was mould growing on the inside of the lid - you know the one that normally has that slimy/damp pastry lining...(and I wonder why I didn't go ino product marketing) And in any case, even if its not going to kill anyone, knowing that its out of date and so past what the manufacturer considers is an acceptable quality and/or safety, surely it should be pulled anyway...?

Elvira

I think it was 60/60 that did an undercover operation in the nation's grocery stores a couple of years ago and found that meat that was past its sell-by date was routinely 'cleaned up' and re-packaged for sale.

They'll do anything if they can get away with it.

Jerseygirl

When I first came here I bought a ready made chicken dish. I was in a hurry and didn't look at the date when I got home it was a week out of date. I took it back and received a blank stare and no apology. Later that day it was back in the refrigerator for sale.

When the shelves are restocked the existing stock is pushed to the back and the new stock placed at the front. It's not just kids that do it either I've seen adults stock the shelves this way.

Jerseygirl

I saw something similar about 5 yrs ago...supermarkets repacking out of date meat and it's legal in this area.

TruBrit

you mean we aren't in europe

to me the 'sell by date' is the date the manufacturer recommends the food be sold where ever it is for sale.

btw the food i mentioned earlier that was for sale in specs had 'sell by dates' as far back as dec 2006