To wonder if I can do anything apart from go back to the shop?

[SpeedbirdSquawker]

The other day I bought a pack of chilled sausages from a local shop near me. When I had some that night I thought they tasted a bit unusual but figured it might be my taste buds. When I looked at the packet tonight after I ate more that tasted peculiar, I noticed on the packet that they were 4 days past the use by date and that was from the date I bought them!

Can I complain to environmental health?

Enviro Health aren't going to run down the shops every time there's a pack of sausages or a loaf of bread out of date anyway.

They're run by the local council, not Batman and Robin.

I would go to the shop and explain. If they dealt with it properly (refund, basic acceptance of error) I would leave it there.

If they were unapologetic, I would escalate to the local authority as the shop has a legal duty to take care with out of date food.

@Ibizabar I had two sausages the exact same day I bought them so I don't know where you got that from.

They were chilled, which I said in the OP, @

The owner is a twat anyway so I won't be going back with them.

So when I do a big shop in the supermarket, I'm supposed to check every use by or best before date incase I can't trust the shop to sell me food that won't be off? Fuck no! It's the shops job to make sure they don't sell anything past its best before or use by date, especially meat or fish.

A PP is correct. Some people are thick on this thread!

So you wouldn't check that the meat you bought for next wednesdays dinner had a long enough date on it? It takes seconds to check dates.

You won't get compensation. Just take them back and get a refund. I always check dates.

Quite. When did checking become too onerous? 🙄

@Ibizabar yes, but for some sausages I was going to eat within an hour of getting them home, I'd expect them to be in date!

@Zebedee55 but I bought them to watch that same night!!!

It obviously is the shops job to rotate stock but mistakes sometimes happen.
As a shop worker when I do my shopping I check all dates, don't know if that's now a habit or if I am happy to take responsibility for my own food.
A shop wouldn't get fined for a single out of date item but they might be investigated, I think I would report to Environmental Health. If they're not doing wrong nothing will happen to them.

I can't imagine not checking the dates in fresh food in the supermarket, at the very least to check that I get the pack with the longest use by date. I've never come across anyone who doesn't check dates before.

Whilst it shouldn't happen, supermarkets do make mistakes occasionally, and I think it's down to consumers to spend a couple of seconds looking at the dates on perishable foods that they buy. If by some chance I'd bought and cooked out of date food which didn't taste right, my first thought would be to check the date, and not to cook more two days later and only then look at the date! 😆😆😆