Whilst at our local Coles yesterday, they had restocked the packs of sizzle steak, but in Coles inimitable fashion, those packs were Best Before 09.10.2020, as I discovered when I lifted the packs which had the dates illegally masked by the mark down stickers to find a couple of packs on which the date was still visible.
They had been reduced by 10% and the packs not marked down were dated 11.10.2020.
Strangely, the packs were now labelled as $8.00 each, down from $11.00 each, but Coles website still shows $11.00 but states that they are Temporarily Unavailable.
Looks like this line is not going to be a nice little earner for Coles anytime soon.
On 28.10.2020, our local Woollies had packs of their Beef Ragu Lasagna dated Best Before 30.10.2020 but unlike the other products in that section which were dated BB 30.10.2020 and even BB 31.10.2020, they had not been marked down.
I went to the deli counter and said to the two persons there that the products had not been marked down unlike the others to which they responded that they must have been missed.
I asked them if they could mark them down and was finally met with a cop-out that only 2other persons could do that.
I asked where those 2 other persons were and they replied that they had no idea.
It was obvious that they were not the least bit interested, unlike other persons who previously grabbed a machine and marked down the overlooked items.
When I happened to visit the next day, the packs were gone and the stock was dated BB 05.11.02020…
I had a look behind the first 2 packs today and saw this one.
That’s not a Best Before that is a Use By (including an actual time stamp as well as the date) and is in breach of the law as it is an expired product and must not be allowed to be sold. I would assume the others were similar and it was actually Use By dating not BB dating.
I have just purchased packets of raw Lamb mince and Veal mince From Coles supermarket. Both have "Best before " dates… I realize that legally Coles does not have to label them as “use by” dates because of a flaw in the food regulations. They are legally able to sell them After the dates because they are “Best before” whereas they have to throw them out if they are labelled with “Use by”.
For a product like raw mince this is just wrong. and Coles should be called out for this practice. Raw mince is at such a high risk of bacterial contamination Coles should not be labelling this as Best before. Our Food safety regulations should not permit this.
Our local Coles sells meat up to and on the Best Before date but never after that, and their POS system will reject any missed items when scanned at the terminals.
They mark items down on the prior day, again in the morning of the Best Before day, and even furthet in the afternoon. Anything left goes in the bin.
Are there instances where the use by date presents an opportunity to use a product in a different way?
In looking for ways to use a small quantity of low fat milk that had started to taste off I looked to the internet. There are many suggestions and few warnings. One source however suggests that sour milk and milk that has spoiled are not necessarily the same.
It can also be used to make a spray for powdery mildew in the garden. Early in my career, we also used milk to spray on freshly quarried rock surfaces to make them look aged. Milk encourages natural rock growths to accelerate the aging look process. It can also be applied to soil and may assist in overcoming calcium deficiencies. It can also be added to a compost bin to assist with increasing the rate of decomposition.
