"Bigbazza" <[email hidden]> wrote in
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"Michael Odom" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:This morning, D hit the store before she went to work and found two
packs one day past their sell-by date but not yet marked down. She
asked at the meat counter whether they would mark them down. You bet.
The guy in back (who may or may not be a butcher) cut a buck off the
price. Still too high. She didn't buy.
At lunch time, I dropped by the store to see what had developed, and
sure enough the little darlings were half price.
In our State N.S.W.( Sydney) Australia....It is both Illegal to (1)
Mark them down and sell on the day of use by !
(2) Sell them 'at all' AFTER the Use by date !
I asked the assistant at one of our 'Woolworths' Food Stores about a
some 'Meat' that had reached it's use by date...I was told by him that
he could not sell it to me (as a mark down) as it was 'Illegal' to do
so...He then took it outside to dispose of !
The date marking rules are detailed in the Australia New Zealand Food
Standards Code which applies to the whole country, not just NSW, I
believe.
Since Woolies are marking their meat with a "use by" date rather than a
"best before" date, then it is illegal to sell it after the "use by"
date. It's fine to sell it on the "use by" date as far as I'm aware and
I've often purchased marked down meat at Woolies which has been marked
"Reduced for Quick Sale".I think they usually do this a day or so before
the "use by" date, but it can still be bought on the "use by" date - I've
done so.
Under the Food Standards Code there are two types of date marking which
can be used (in addition to baked on and baked for etc. for bread) - "use
by" and "best before". They are not interchangeable.
According to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand site and their
guide for manufacturers the "best before" date is the last date on which
a food can be expected to retain all its quality attributes, provided
it's been stored in accordance with any stated storage conditions. The
food may still be safe to consume after this date.Food with a "best
before" date mark can continue to be sold after this date provided it is
not damaged, deteriorated etc.
A "use by" date is the last date on which food can be consumed safely,
provided it has been stored in accordance with stated storage conditions.
Sale of a food past its "use by" date is prohibited.
It's up to the manufacturer to decide which type of marking they should
use. Food Standards have a guide which gives examples of how to decide
this. According to their guide, in general, raw food which needs to be
cooked (e.g. meat) can be given a "best before" date. It really only
seems to indicate a "use by" date for chilled ready to eat food (which
won't undergo any further cooking to kill bacteria).
Woolies obviously decided to use the "use by" markings on their meat, and
so cannot sell it past the "use by" date. If they changed to using "best
before" dates, they could discount it for sale after the date if they
wished. I'd guess they'd prefer not to risk someone buying meat past its
prime.
If they did start doing it, I'd prefer they didn't call it "used meat"
though <g>
References -
the section of the Food Standards Code dealing with date marking (PDF
version)
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/Standard125_DateMarking_v63.pdf
User Guide to Standard 1.2.5 - Date Marking of Packaged Food
http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/_srcfiles/date_marking0917.pdf
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia