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Expiration Dates

B

BCinSC

Platinum Member
I don't know how many of y'all do your own shopping, but ya might want to pay more attention to whether you're getting stuck with technically rotten food. Every trip I make to any of the dozen local grocery stores, I inevitably find items that should have been removed weeks, sometimes months ago. Latest was yesterday and the item was the Butterball turkey at the deli counter. The one visible in the case, still completely originally wrapped, expired 2 weeks ago - and no it wasn't simply display. The one clerk was cutting from was no better. Explanation? "The night people are suppose to check it". Well, obviously SOMEONE isn't doing their job!!??!! Last week, it was spaghetti sauce. I found 7 jars interspirsed that expired 3 or more months ago. That's quality product rotation for you. I noticed the box of cereal I bought a few weeks ago expired in July - missed that one (must have been distracted by a hot MILF). Does anyone else notice this? Does the general population just not give a damn, be it the consumers or the stockers?
<end of rant>
 
I always pay attention to dates and I have never picked up anything expired......

Close to expiration, yes but expired no. I really look at all the sour cream dates because I want at least 2 months to go on them.
 
General population does not care and/or is oblivious to the dates.

They will operate on the premise that the store will pull expired items off the shelves when after the expiration date.

I will check perishable items for date, vaccum sealed items, I do not.
 
I work in a walmart supercenter and there are people there who do not rotate a damn thing when they put stuff on the shelves. Occasionally in my department(dairy) we will find 1 or 2 things that we missed(and even then it's like 1-2 days after, not 3 months), but for the most part we are pretty good about that. Other people/departments I cannot say the same about. I would say it's more that the stocker doesn't give a damn, and just puts stuff out without ever checking dates.
 
A lot of dates are bunk. Like EagleKeeper, I check the dates on perishable items like milk, salad, fresh meats.

Expiration date on a can of black beans? Bah. If it isn't bulging, it's good.
 
the workers at your store are either lazy or dont know what they are doing or the person ordering the stuff has no idea what he is doing....when i managed a large chain food store my night crew rotated the stock....basically took off the shelf what was there...shouldnt be alot because you only order minimal on slow moving products..and the fast moving stuff should be almost empty..put the new stuff in the back and fill the front with the older merchandise

my deli and dairy guys had to walk the counters and checked the expiration dates every morning and basically knew what products they should be checking more often for exp dates and signs of spoilage....

 
Big chains (at least in southest US) - Publix (based in Lakeland FL), Bi-Lo (owned by AHold that owns Giant, Stop&Shop, Tops, etc), Harris Teeter, The Pig, and of course Wal-Mart Supercenter.

When you find something expired, do you tell them? It's become so frequent, I now ask for store manager for serious violations and if I get my lazy butt around to it, will call Dept. of Health, cause nothing seems to change.

One other thing: used to be that the deli workers had to clean the slicer between customers, especially if meat had been cut. No longer the case. Things go bad so fast because of serious cross-contamination, slicing rare roast beef, then turkey, then cheese. Ugh. I'm getting sick just writing.

What really turns my stomach is the gray/green steaks and hamburger.
 
You do realize that when food(besides perishables-meat, etc) becomes expired, the stores just give it to the local food banks so the less fortunate can have food?

It's not like it's instantly maggot filled and toxic once the date passes. Just reach around the old stock and grab new.
 
spaghetti sauce has an expiration date on it? Are you sure that in all the cases, you're not seeing a "manufactured date"? I believe you on the lunch meats though... but I never knew cereal had an expiration date on it either. (or at least I thought it was a couple of years)
 
Grocery stores around here mark down items which are within a day or two of their expiration. They usually don't stay on the shelves too long after that.
 
Originally posted by: Jzero
A lot of dates are bunk. Like EagleKeeper, I check the dates on perishable items like milk, salad, fresh meats.

Expiration date on a can of black beans? Bah. If it isn't bulging, it's good.
Click to expand...

Beans are supposed to bulge. Proves that the gas gene still works :evil: It is the tuna that I worry about.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
You do realize that when food(besides perishables-meat, etc) becomes expired, the stores just give it to the local food banks so the less fortunate can have food?

It's not like it's instantly maggot filled and toxic once the date passes. Just reach around the old stock and grab new.
Click to expand...

a lot of big name stores will not do this....for fear of beign sued over someone becoming sick from eating 'expired' food
 
Originally posted by: BCinSC
Big chains (at least in southest US) - Publix (based in Lakeland FL), Bi-Lo (owned by AHold that owns Giant, Stop&Shop, Tops, etc), Harris Teeter, The Pig, and of course Wal-Mart Supercenter.

When you find something expired, do you tell them? It's become so frequent, I now ask for store manager for serious violations and if I get my lazy butt around to it, will call Dept. of Health, cause nothing seems to change.

One other thing: used to be that the deli workers had to clean the slicer between customers, especially if meat had been cut. No longer the case. Things go bad so fast because of serious cross-contamination, slicing rare roast beef, then turkey, then cheese. Ugh. I'm getting sick just writing.

What really turns my stomach is the gray/green steaks and hamburger.
Click to expand...

Tell them... they will get fined if OSHA or any dept of health people come in. If it's something that is a WICK(WIC?...pregnant mothers assistance, whatever) product, they can lose their WICK license, which is huge.
 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
spaghetti sauce has an expiration date on it? Are you sure that in all the cases, you're not seeing a "manufactured date"? I believe you on the lunch meats though... but I never knew cereal had an expiration date on it either. (or at least I thought it was a couple of years)
Click to expand...

It's usually a year or so on cereal. And yes, spaghetti sauce has an expiration date. Everything does.

And boogiman is right, most places won't give food to those places anymore, due to the lawsuit concerns. A lot of places won't TAKE outdated food, either.
 
Originally posted by: BooGiMaN
Originally posted by: Eli
You do realize that when food(besides perishables-meat, etc) becomes expired, the stores just give it to the local food banks so the less fortunate can have food?

It's not like it's instantly maggot filled and toxic once the date passes. Just reach around the old stock and grab new.
Click to expand...

a lot of big name stores will not do this....for fear of beign sued over someone becoming sick from eating 'expired' food
Click to expand...
Well that is just sad and stupid.

They do it around here. We've had to go to the food bank a few times.
 
Originally posted by: DrPizza
spaghetti sauce has an expiration date on it? Are you sure that in all the cases, you're not seeing a "manufactured date"? I believe you on the lunch meats though... but I never knew cereal had an expiration date on it either. (or at least I thought it was a couple of years)
Click to expand...

FDA requires all food stuffs to have an expiration date. You are correct that cereal has a 3 year date from manufactured. Others have anywhere from 2-3 weeks (dairy) to a few months/years.

 
Originally posted by: BCinSC
Big chains (at least in southest US) - Publix (based in Lakeland FL), Bi-Lo (owned by AHold that owns Giant, Stop&Shop, Tops, etc), Harris Teeter, The Pig, and of course Wal-Mart Supercenter.

When you find something expired, do you tell them? It's become so frequent, I now ask for store manager for serious violations and if I get my lazy butt around to it, will call Dept. of Health, cause nothing seems to change.

One other thing: used to be that the deli workers had to clean the slicer between customers, especially if meat had been cut. No longer the case. Things go bad so fast because of serious cross-contamination, slicing rare roast beef, then turkey, then cheese. Ugh. I'm getting sick just writing.

What really turns my stomach is the gray/green steaks and hamburger.
Click to expand...

Sounds like your whole city it nuts, or that you are paranoid. Ahold runs stores around here and we have Publix and Walmart too, but I've never bought anything expired. I always check dates too because I hate getting sick, but I've never had anything other than milk be close to the expiration date.
 
I've never had that problem. Additionally, dates on canned food are usually baloney. As long as the can's seal is intact, I'll buy/use it. The only dates I check are on milk, orange juice, butter, yogurt, cream cheest, egg nog, cheese, and other perishable and/or dairy products.
 
They need to pull and donate BEFORE expiration date. Cost of doing business is having enough of the items your customers want and appropriately dealing with surplus. Granted it doesn't rot instantly (depending on item), but no one should think it's right to offer expired food to those in need. No where in the world, expecially America, should anyone be hungry or eating rot.
 
My wife is a community health nurse for the army and is the health and welfare inspector (the same position as a OSHA inspector, just for the Army) for the base here in hawaii. Before we moved here we were in germany for 5 years, where the commisary was basically stocked with expired packaged items. Most frozen foods and some packaged foods are still good for 6 months after the expiration date. I would say about 60% of the food in foreign countries where the US military has commisarys is expired, and still used and bought by the masses.
I was always paranoid about expired foods, but after learing OSHA's rules on the topic, I don't worry about it as much.
 
Originally posted by: BCinSC
They need to pull and donate BEFORE expiration date. Cost of doing business is having enough of the items your customers want and appropriately dealing with surplus. Granted it doesn't rot instantly (depending on item), but no one should think it's right to offer expired food to those in need. No where in the world, expecially America, should anyone be hungry or eating rot.
Click to expand...

We pull dairy products 3 days before the sell-by date. How early would you suggest pulling them, so they would still be donatable? Many of the things we have only have a shelf life of a few weeks. Gotta make money, can't pull this stuff too early.
 
Originally posted by: BCinSC
They need to pull and donate BEFORE expiration date. Cost of doing business is having enough of the items your customers want and appropriately dealing with surplus. Granted it doesn't rot instantly (depending on item), but no one should think it's right to offer expired food to those in need. No where in the world, expecially America, should anyone be hungry or eating rot.
Click to expand...

Eating rot? Depending on the temperature and packaging milk can go for 2-3 weeks after the "sell by" date before it turns. If the store can't sell it by law, it should just be thrown away? That's ludicrous.

If I came into some hard times and I had to hit the food bank, I wouldn't be checking dates, I'd be checking smells, and if it passes the "sniff test," it's OK.
 
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