Posted on 09/29/2013 7:44:38 AM PDT by Libloather
More than 90% — ninety percent! — of Americans throw out food prematurely, as TIME reported last week. Basically, consumers are confused by phrasing like “use by” and “sell by” and so, to be safe, they end up tossing perfectly good produce, snacks and more. In reality, food dating really just indicates when an item is at its peak freshness, not when it becomes inedible.
All of this got Doug Rauch, the former president of the Trader Joe’s supermarket chain, thinking about a potential solution. And now, it seems he might have found one: a market that specializes in preparing and repackaging expired food and selling it at deeply discounted prices. He plans to launch this project, called the Daily Table, next year in Boston’s working-class Dorchester neighborhood, NPR reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsfeed.time.com ...
Awseome ..massive law suit fraud cometh...ka ching!!!!!!
Over twenty years ago, we went to our little local convenience store (town is about 1/2 hour away), to get a gallon of milk. We found the expiration date of the milk was the day before. The owner, when confronted by the news, said that she knew that and the milk is still good for two weeks after the date. We could see that the milk was curdling in the container, told her so, and she reiterated that it was still good. Needless to say, we drove the 1/2 hour to town.
Whatever she felt the life of the milk might be, legally a store or restaurant for that matter cannot sell or use a product that has passed its sell by/use by date. What’s also interesting is all the people who throw out perfectly good medicine because it has reached it’s use by date, the fact is that most medicine is still effective for 7 years after that date if I recall the study correctly. It is to expensive for pharma companies to keep samples and retest for extended studies.
Whatever she felt the life of the milk might be, legally a store or restaurant for that matter cannot sell or use a product that has passed its sell by/use by date. What’s also interesting is all the people who throw out perfectly good medicine because it has reached it’s use by date, the fact is that most medicine is still effective for 7 years after that date if I recall the study correctly. It is to expensive for pharma companies to keep samples and retest for extended studies.
Jeez! Sorry for the double post, twitchy mouse button finger i guess.
I notice that many products have a ‘best by’ date, rather than an expiration date.
More here:
http://healthland.time.com/2013/09/18/is-your-food-expired-dont-be-so-quick-to-toss-it/
http://www.nrdc.org/food/expiration-dates.asp
I think it’s a cool idea for some. Hope they’re up on food safety, though.
There are at least two things to avoid buying after the use by dates; bagged produce and liquid dairy products. If milk doesn’t have at least a week left on the use by date, I won’t buy it. Bagged produce must have at least three additional days. Bread it kind of iffy, unless you are making something that works better with bread a bit dried out, like French toast.
Most other items are just fine for quite a while.
Re: Dented cans.
Intend to use such items quickly, as the damage might allow miniscule cracks for air (bacteria) to get inside.
If any can has even the slighted bulge at the ends, toss it. After opening, if the product has even the slightest unpleasant odor, toss it. If the opened can has small bubbles at the top of the liquid, probably toss it. Your life worth more than an 80¢ can of goods.
You can sue tell freezes but can’t collect if there are no assets
As anyone that’s worked around the oilfield knows, Bologna is at it’s best when it has a slight green tint to it.
College was affordable on my meager food income budget by buying dented cans and day old bread at A&P
Splurging was buying live lobsters from the Cameron Village Colonial Store at 7:00 Saturday evenings when they were marked down to near $0
This morning I used the last of a gallon of milk in my coffee. The “Best Before” date on it is September 16.
There was NOTHING wrong with the milk.
My GF tosses anything dairy out 3 days BEFORE the BB date. Even parmesan cheese!
Keep it COLD and it’ll last well beyond its BB date.
The same goes for just about any foodstuff. Meat being the exception. I feed week overdue meat to the dogs, but eat everything else up to that point.
as i can walk to the food store and do a lot of the cooking i always check the discounted meat and seafood sections(used meat as i call it) to see if there is anything i might want. i can get a nice steak for 1/3 off and some shrimp and cook them the same day. also get day old bread and donuts. at home i tend to go by look and smell. if it looks or smells even a little iffy it’s gone. buy a lot of “store brand” too.
I'm guessing it's pre-purchase transit/storage variations.
———My GF tosses anything dairy out 3 days BEFORE the BB——
High maintenance woman
No need to repackage it, I say. I shop regularly at a chain here in CA that always has some stuff past its date right on the shelf and in the meat & cheese section, usually discounted 50% but once in a while 75% and even 80%.
Though I would never pay their claimed “regular price” for most of it — e.g. $4.99 for a pound of bulk Jimmy Dean breakfast sausage — I load up at 99c and have never had a problem. I’ve saved literally hundreds of dollars over what I’d be comfortable paying.
Yeah, a bit, but she’s worth it! She puts up with ME!
We all have our foibles...
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