Bread products gone mouldy on best before date - take back to the shop?

[RachelWatts]

I bought a pack of bagels yesterday. I opened the packet at breakfast this morning. I thought there was an odd smell, so inspected the first bagel carefully - all seemed OK, so I toasted it and gave it to DS1 for breakfast.

I just went to the packet to get a bagel to make DS1's lunch, and realised exactly what the odd smell was. About half the bagels in the pack are riddled with mould.

I checked the BBD - it's today. But given the amount of mould and the smell this morning when I opened the pack, they must have been mouldy before then.

I'm embarrassed that I didn't notice it before.

I still have the receipt. Is it worth going back to the supermarket to complain? Or will they look at me like I'm an idiot and explain that as the BBD has expired, of course they're going to have spoiled.

It would cost me more in petrol to go to the same branch tomorrow, but I plan to be in the town centre where there is a local branch.

On the plus side, at least I know DS1 isn't allergic to penicillin... And lesson learned - I'll be more vigilant with checking BBDs when doing my weekly shop.

It's probably the heat. You could complain, but do you need the money? My time would be worth more than the bagels.

You have a valid complaint if you want to make it. I'm sure they won't mind swapping/refunding.

I bought a loaf of bread a couple of months ago that was well before the best before date and it was mouldy.

Turned out there was a tiny rip in the seam of the bag.

If I was passing by anyway tomorrow I'd take it back.

Yes, they may have had a breakdown in transport or storage. They would be able to look, if someone complained.

Oh, too soon....

I'd complain by email... save you going in. Just say you wanted to let them know..... I have done that before and got a thank you voucher. They don't seem to mind complaints like that.

Take a photo of the mould, scan your receipt if you have it and send an email to their customer services dept at their head office explaining about the split in the bag and the date you opened it etc.

With any luck you will get an apology and a gift voucher.

Just throw them out.
No one "investigates" how it happened, they get scanned as waste, end of story.

Ah well, popcorn, I have had a different experience. One supermarket did investigate due to the number of complaints. The new store had something wrong with one of its storerooms temperature/humidity controls... so it might be useful information.

It might not be the shops fault at all but if I were you I would attach a photo of the bagels and the receipt to an email letting them know what happened. You will get an apology and, I bet, you will get a voucher to cover the cost plus some extra.

It saves you a trip and you can do it straightaway.

I do this with mouldy fruit sometimes if I realise it's mouldy shortly after buying it. Fruit is expensive and it irritates me to have to throw it away.

Bread products don't do well with warm temperatures or changing temperatures. Your bagels may have got warm in your car on the way home and this might have caused condensation to for inside the pack. This could easily lead to mould growth. Another possibility is that there was a nick in the packaging. I think it falls into the 'unfortunate, but just one of those things' category, however, I'm sure the store would still want to know and would want to compensate you.

exactly the same thing happened to me, I got a refund then the bagel company sent me 4 vouchers in the post, I only returned one pack. I haven't used the vouchers though, I seem to have gone off bagels now.

It's a vile smell isn't it? I usually keep my bread stuffs in the freezer but just lately as there wasn't room kept them out on the side and had 2 loaves fet blue spots on before use by date - I figured it was the heat and made room in the freezer :) (for new stuff of course!)

Weirdly I had the same with bagels this week, the branded ones not supermarket own. Day after I bought them I found spots of mould all through them

I had this with bread the other week. I rang the customer services number on the back and they sent vouchers. It might only be a small thing to some people but we've a family of 6 to feed so losing a whole loaf of bread which is supposed to be in date means we lose a lot of lunches.

I'd not bother with the store personally and just ring them. It's usually a free phone number.

Is it something do do with the warmth and humidity this week, I wonder? We also just lost a loaf of bread to mould before it reached the best before date!

I had this with my last two online shops, loaf of bread each time was mouldy upon opening, day after delivery and before best before date. I just sent an email via their web site and they refunded the cost of the bread and added £5 of vouchers to my account. So no need to go into the shop at all.