Many consumers don’t fully get the difference between a “best before” and a “sell by” or “use by” date; they just resist buying anything beyond its “expiry date”.
And while it’s not illegal to keep a product on shelf beyond its “best before” date, few consumers would knowingly pay full price for “old” food.
To get around this, some retailers, or their misguided employees, remove or fake the date marks on their products.
I’ve investigated cases of dates being crudely cut off a food pack or blacked out with a marker pen; wiped away completely with solvent, or hidden with a new pricer sticker, bearing new dates, to give the false impression that the food has yet to reach its “expiry” date.
It happens in small grocery stores and spaza shops in rural areas, as well as in big-name national chains in cities, and it’s not only illegal, immoral and an appalling breach of customer’s trust, but, in the case of use-by dates, highly dangerous too.
In the past few weeks, I’ve investigated three cases of date mark tampering, two involving different branches of the same chain.
- Food Lovers Market (part of Fruit & Veg City Holdings), Pinetown. February 11.
Gillian Hogan sees a “specials” trolley full of packs of “Bokwurst” sausage, many with their original labels removed and a new one applied, calling the product “Russian Smoked Chilli” and extending the sell-by date by some five weeks – from January 7 to February 13.
When she confronted the butchery manager, he claimed, nonsensically, that the packs were being sold as dog food.
Head office response: Fruit and Veg City’s legal advisor Mirella Gastaldi said the butchery manager had admitted altering the date marks of the sausages, adding that he’d done so of his own volition, despite knowing it was illegal.
A disciplinary meeting was held and the manager was issued with a final letter of warning.
Gastaldi said the company was disappointed and appalled by his actions.
- Pick n Pay, The Workshop, central Durban. February 13.
Siphamandla Ngcobo bought a few slices of chicken polony, later noticing a double price sticker. He peeled the top (Pick n Pay) one off and discovered that while it had a sell-by date of that day – February 13 – the supplier’s label it had concealed bore a best-before date of four days earlier – February 9.
Head office response: Company policy is to leave the supplier’s date mark on the pack, and to add a store label – with a price but no date mark to the pack, while not obscuring the supplier label.
“We got this wrong, in this case, and have taken it up with the store and asked them to check the rest of the stock. Our apologies to our customer.”
- Food Lover’s Market, Cowey Road, Durban. February 21.
Acting on a tip-off, I visited the store. In the pre-packed processed meat section I found packs of ham, pastrami and the like with store labels which contradicted the date marks of the supplier in almost every case.
For example, on a pack of Oscar’s pastrami, the supplier’s sticker on the back of the pack put the “production date” as January 6 and the sell-by date as February 6 (long expired by then), while the retailer’s sticker, more prominent on the front of the pack, claims the “packed date” to be February 16 (nearly six weeks later than the supplier’s production date) and the sell-by date of March 18.
Very disturbing indeed.
Head office response: Mirella Gastaldi said the company’s food safety advisor visited the store, unannounced, last week, and found a number of processed meat products with altered date markings. But this was not intentional, she said, rather “the result of employees failing to properly use our IT system to produce scale labels with accurate date marks”.
In future, she said, the only date marks which would appear on those products would be the ones on the supplier’s stickers.
Bottom line: Date mark tampering is a reality, and more widespread than you realise. Be vigilant and speak up when you spot it.
Email: consumer@knowler.co.za
Twitter: @wendyknowler
DATE MARK GUIDE
BEST BEFORE: Found on long shelf-life products such as canned and bottled foods, sauces and biscuits.
While still safe to eat after the BB date, quality deteriorates.
While it’s not illegal to sell a product past its BB date, it’s obviously not an ideal purchase for a consumer, unless the price is discounted.
USE BY: Found on fresh dairy products, meat, ready-to-eat meals, etc, usually kept chilled.
Products should not be sold or consumed after this date because they are not considered safe.
SELL BY: Only used for the convenience of the retailer, indicating when products must be removed from sale. It’s usually three to four days before the Use By date, to give consumers time to use the product at home after it’s been bought.
DATE OF MANUFACTURE/PRODUCTION: The date on which the food became the product as described.
Need to read between the expiry date lines
And while it’s not illegal to keep a product on shelf beyond its “best before” date, few consumers would knowingly pay full price for “old” food.
To get around this, some retailers, or their misguided employees, remove or fake the date marks on their products.
I’ve investigated cases of dates being crudely cut off a food pack or blacked out with a marker pen; wiped away completely with solvent, or hidden with a new pricer sticker, bearing new dates, to give the false impression that the food has yet to reach its “expiry” date.
It happens in small grocery stores and spaza shops in rural areas, as well as in big-name national chains in cities, and it’s not only illegal, immoral and an appalling breach of customer’s trust, but, in the case of use-by dates, highly dangerous too.
In the past few weeks, I’ve investigated three cases of date mark tampering, two involving different branches of the same chain.
Gillian Hogan sees a “specials” trolley full of packs of “Bokwurst” sausage, many with their original labels removed and a new one applied, calling the product “Russian Smoked Chilli” and extending the sell-by date by some five weeks – from January 7 to February 13.
When she confronted the butchery manager, he claimed, nonsensically, that the packs were being sold as dog food.
Head office response: Fruit and Veg City’s legal advisor Mirella Gastaldi said the butchery manager had admitted altering the date marks of the sausages, adding that he’d done so of his own volition, despite knowing it was illegal.
A disciplinary meeting was held and the manager was issued with a final letter of warning.
Gastaldi said the company was disappointed and appalled by his actions.
Siphamandla Ngcobo bought a few slices of chicken polony, later noticing a double price sticker. He peeled the top (Pick n Pay) one off and discovered that while it had a sell-by date of that day – February 13 – the supplier’s label it had concealed bore a best-before date of four days earlier – February 9.
Head office response: Company policy is to leave the supplier’s date mark on the pack, and to add a store label – with a price but no date mark to the pack, while not obscuring the supplier label.
“We got this wrong, in this case, and have taken it up with the store and asked them to check the rest of the stock. Our apologies to our customer.”
Acting on a tip-off, I visited the store. In the pre-packed processed meat section I found packs of ham, pastrami and the like with store labels which contradicted the date marks of the supplier in almost every case.
For example, on a pack of Oscar’s pastrami, the supplier’s sticker on the back of the pack put the “production date” as January 6 and the sell-by date as February 6 (long expired by then), while the retailer’s sticker, more prominent on the front of the pack, claims the “packed date” to be February 16 (nearly six weeks later than the supplier’s production date) and the sell-by date of March 18.
Very disturbing indeed.
Head office response: Mirella Gastaldi said the company’s food safety advisor visited the store, unannounced, last week, and found a number of processed meat products with altered date markings. But this was not intentional, she said, rather “the result of employees failing to properly use our IT system to produce scale labels with accurate date marks”.
In future, she said, the only date marks which would appear on those products would be the ones on the supplier’s stickers.
Bottom line: Date mark tampering is a reality, and more widespread than you realise. Be vigilant and speak up when you spot it.
Email: consumer@knowler.co.za
Twitter: @wendyknowler
DATE MARK GUIDE
BEST BEFORE: Found on long shelf-life products such as canned and bottled foods, sauces and biscuits.
While still safe to eat after the BB date, quality deteriorates.
While it’s not illegal to sell a product past its BB date, it’s obviously not an ideal purchase for a consumer, unless the price is discounted.
USE BY: Found on fresh dairy products, meat, ready-to-eat meals, etc, usually kept chilled.
Products should not be sold or consumed after this date because they are not considered safe.
SELL BY: Only used for the convenience of the retailer, indicating when products must be removed from sale. It’s usually three to four days before the Use By date, to give consumers time to use the product at home after it’s been bought.
DATE OF MANUFACTURE/PRODUCTION: The date on which the food became the product as described.
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