Tesco price markdown on perishable goods nearing expiry date

Re: Tesco price markdown.

Hi marie
Its a good job you weren`t around at the time of the famine!
The best before sell by date is just that. _most items will be o.k. after their sell by date especially if these items are put in a cold fridge.
yogurt,bread,frozen items will last a long time.
Items that are going off like meat that has gone brown or chicken often smells a bit if near or past its sell by date, or fruit or veg that are partially going off_well i think these items shouldn`t be sold.
PEOPLE shoud go for the freshest even if they have to root at the back of the shelf_IT WILL ALSO HAVE THE ADDED BENEFIT OF forcing the supermarket to give a big reduction to the food left over as it approaches its sell by date!
Supermarkets are very powerful and very profitable and seem to get long shelf lives for items such as milk by lobbying gov agencies_this might be justified by stricter quality control and better refridgeration.
anyway our gov likes supermarkets and apparently at least one supermrkt executive saw fit to give a large sum of money to at least one politician!
And it is nice to shop in the big shining supermrkts with their parking,petrol,toilets, and all the merchandise , not to mention special offers, and reduced bargains.
yep i luv supermrkts!
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

sunrock said:
Supermarket marked down food whose sell by date is imminent is great for bargain hunters and people low in money!
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And for the type of fruit that you have to wait a week while it ripens. I always check to see if there are papayas, mangos or melons in there and sometimes I am lucky.
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

Meant that the best before date was Saturday 2nd. I'd have no problem using them afterwards if they looked ok.
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

Re: Tesco price markdown.
supermarket staff are supposed to put the freshest produce to the back.

Is it called stock rotation?
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In my youth I used to work for M&S, stacking shelves. They used to call it 'date rotate' (A right bugger when dealing with frozen food!) Most of the fresh food shelves would be emptied by the end of the day anyway.

M&S had two dates, best before and display until. When the 'Display until' date had expired, the food would be sold to the staff. Any remaining food would be given to homeless charities.

Fresh food that has gone off before the best before date has probably left the 'cold chain' as some point. Refrigerated food has to stay cool from the time it leaves the lorry until the customer buys it.
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

I worked part time in a supermarket 20 years ago and we put the fresh stuff at the back. Consequently I have been 20 years rooting around the shelves for the freshest stuff!

I think that people rely too much on best before dates and not enough on their own observations. If you take a good whiff of meat ham, chicken,etc you'll know instantly if it is gone off.

I get very annoyed though when something goes off very quickly. Basil for example blackens very quickly. Blueberries go mouldy as well. And fruit which was rock hard the last time I looked has gone over ripe and musty.

A consequence of all the air miles they have put up while being super chilled no doubt
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

june said:
If you take a good whiff of meat ham, chicken,etc you'll know instantly if it is gone off.
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Better still - stick to your local butcher for meat. You'll generally get better quality and value than the supermarkets.
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

On best befores - has anyone noticesd that shop branded milk tends to have shorter best befores that 'premium brand'. Take a look in tesco, centra etc and compare theirs to CMP etc.
Assuming they are both probably made in the same place, it seems strange.

Or maybe its just my local centra:eek:
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

Murt10 said:
Strangely enough, this food which has the shortest shelf life, is at the front of the shelf.
Murt
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No strangely about it - called stock rotation & is (or should be) used in every shop. You seem to be taking this as if the supermarket is doing something sneaky in rotating their stock?! Its standard practice & makes sense to do it - no point in having older stuff at the back never getting sold.

That said, yes I do root around at the back & try and get the freshest .........but I don't give out about it being at the back!

Also as mentioned, best before date is purely advisory. A lot of stuff is ok after that date & you should just use your own judgement
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

sunrock said:
If a shop or supermarket is selling items that are past their sell by date even if reduced or even by one minute_then that is ILLEGAL AND SHOULD BE REPORTED TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH OFFICER OR THE RELEVANT AUTHORITY
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If I may clarify, the above statement is wrong. It is certainly not illegal for a service provider to sell food past its sell-by-date provided it is in fully acceptable condition.

It is however illegal for a seller to place food on the market if it is unsafe. ‘Unsafe’ is defined in the food safety Regulations and includes food that is ‘injurious to health’ and ‘unfit for human consumption’.

In fact, there is a very significant amount of legislation regarding food safety in Ireland and there are strict EU rules regarding the labelling of foodstuffs. The following is taken from a Food Safety Authority of Ireland publication on Food Law:

"There are two types of date markings, a ‘best before’ date is the date up until which a food can reasonably be expected to retain its optimum condition. Most non-perishable foods with a long shelf life which do not
require refrigeration fall into this category, such as biscuits and dried pasta.

A ‘use by’ date however, is required for foods which from a microbiological point of view are highly perishable and are therefore likely after a short period to be an immediate danger to human health."

Just thought this might be useful to clarify the above.
 
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Ok i no we are on about tesco here and out of date stuff but my local dunnes there is always out of date stuff. Once I got chicken fillets (and no i didnt look at the date) why should I thats there job to make sure stuff is in date. and omg the smell of them was unreal made me sick.

Last week in tescos purchased out of date crisps. I sometimes (if not in a hurry with look to back of shelf)

I find the tesco milk even if in date goes funny after a few days. And yes in the bargain bin you can find some great stuff but defo want to use it or freeze it i guess :(
 
I take from the back too! :)
Once I, .....(stupidly some may say, but in theory, not)... bought mussels in Tesco that were out of date the following day and at a reduced price. I cooked them, immediately, ehen I got home and ate them. Definitely, didn't taste bad... That night and all following day, I was sooooooooooo incredibly, unbelievably sick, you don't want to know... I went back to manager and told him my story. I must say ha was not terribly sympathetic but did apologise. Offered me anopther pack!!! My goodness, not a hope of me accepting that! Got my money back, that was it. I explained to him I just don't think it is a good idea with shellfish to sell at a reduced price if there is any doubt of theie freshness as an elderly person or someone not just as healthy as myself may just not be as lucky as me... So beware everyone.
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

This drives me mad about M&S. Things like cakes and breadrolls which come in large packets have to be used up by the next day and they are never discounted. Neither are there packs further back on the shelf with longer expiry dates. That's fine if you have a family of six to feed, but most people would need a few of days to munch through 4 cream buns or 6 breakfast muffins.
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

liaconn said:
This drives me mad about M&S. Things like cakes and breadrolls which come in large packets have to be used up by the next day and they are never discounted. Neither are there packs further back on the shelf with longer expiry dates. That's fine if you have a family of six to feed, but most people would need a few of days to munch through 4 cream buns or 6 breakfast muffins.
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God Liaconn, cakes dont last one day in my house never mind a few, in fact sometimes they dont even make it all the way home. ;)
 
Re: Tesco price markdown.

foxylady said:
God Liaconn, cakes dont last one day in my house never mind a few, in fact sometimes they dont even make it all the way home. ;)
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You eat a whole box of cakes on the bus on the way home??????
 
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