Tesco and Sainsbury's knowingly selling out of date meat

[vimfuego]

Call me nieve but this shocks me a bit.

Old meat is being sold at the butcher's counter and chiller cabinet meat is being re-packaged and re-labelled with fake dates.

\link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6676345.stm}

Try again

link

They cant do that!

Bloody discusting and discraceful! Shame on them!

If you're surprised at this you might want to read one of these books:
Shopped
Not on the label

People tend to assume that supermarkets are more trustworthy than independent retailers but they so, so aren't

doesn't suprise me............but then the "best" butcher in our town (who charged prices to match his reputation) was recently closed down instantly because it was doing almost exactly the same thing - selling out of date meat - so I'm afraid I'm just as suspicious of local indepedent retailers as I am of the big chains.....

I read that too and tbh I'm not surprised - and don't think they are the only ones....I remeber being in M&S a few years ago and there was loads of chicken with bb date of that day - complained to a member of staff that people might not notice and buy it (and not use it that day) but they didn't seem to think it was a problem.

I have been having trouble with short expiry dates on fresh produce from Tescos home delivery recently - will probably stop only get tinned and boxed stuff from there in future - have given up on milk ages ago, it always tastes funny even if it is within date...

True Fannyannie, but then, Tescos and Sains won't get closed down, will they?

I would add that 18 years ago I worked in the meat department at Sainsbury's and did NOT see anything like this. They were keen to make sure that they didn't have to throw away stock, but I was never asked to relabel anything.

My friend works for asda and told me that they do this with the hollands pies (supposed to be fresh) if they go out of date they just put in a new tray and cover and put a new date on

I think they've got worse in a lot of ways since they started to compete so fiercely on price.
eg own-brand products used to be comparable with the big names but the quality has fallen steeply in the last few years.

A company as large as sainsburys wouldn't need to be cutting corners like this. And the risk to their business if they did means that they are actualy very careful in ensuring product quality and safety.
These 'expose' documentaries just pick out lazy/cluless/incompetent staff, and then their actions are touted as company procedure.
It is far from the case.

Agree entirely with the Devil. This is not my area at all but DH has some involvement. The processes and procedures are really carefully checked by all food retailers.

If you do see practices that are inappropriate, or buy food that is harmful, then I recall dh told me it is possible to report to the Environmental Health Officers.

DH has in the past told me it was very difficult to prove that a particular food caused food poisoning. That's the problem. So regrettably if you need to build a case against a food retailer around food poisoning, you need samples. Both of the food and its ill effects

With that lovely thought ...

I don't really care whether the meat is off because it is company policy or because the shops haven't trained their staff properly /are employing clueless staff / have created a working environment in which pressure to meet targets mean corners are regularly cut. All I care about is that it's safe to eat, personally - the fact that it isn't company policy isn't much consolation.

I used to live directly opposite a local shop selling everything from bread to laces. And the bread man used to come in, take the old bread from the shop, the returns, and a bloke was in the back of the van and they shook the old bread into new bags twisted and put one of those labels on it all within 4-5 secs a loaf so used to it they were...then take it back into the shop with a new invoice. Feckers

I went on a management course with a person who worked for one of the big stores and she told us she had been asked to re-date a load of chickens because they where out of date. They also froze bread and sold as fresh the next day!
Both were apparently common practice and this was 13/14 years ago.

This doesn't surprise me. Twice I've bought beef mince from Tescos which has turned a nasty shade of brown within a couple of days, and still well within it's supposed sell by date. I also had some fish go off and smell very nasty which was also within date. I took them all back for refunds.

Actually Ihave had meat with what seems to be a long used by date on which has made me go . Not surprisingly it has gone bad a day or two before stated date.

I have also had meat which has gone bad before stated dates when they don't seem long.

Now I try and use within 2-3 days of actuyally buying and almost ignore the dates.

This is why I only buy my meat from a reputable butcher who cares about their customers

I only buy ethically produced, local meat from farms I have visited myself.

Ditto SMS. And I try to buy from the butcher if I can (or even better the farmer's market).

took them back for refunds?
i usually blame my fridge!
might try that twinkle

I knew it deffo wasn't my fridge.

Did anyone see the docu last night - what they did with those chickens!? omg!

That's really interesting. I was complaining to dh just the other day that quite a bit of the food I had bought recently had gone off supposedly before its BB date. That might well explain it! B*stards... The amount of food I have had to throw in the last few weeks!