'Use by' or 'Best before'

[Jules59]

I bought an Aldi "fresh" chicken recently. Kept it in the the fridge for 2 days. Opened the plastic packaging and was greeted by a disgusting "rotten meat " smell.
Took it back to Aldi.
Me - "Sorry to have to return this to you but it smells foul".
Manager - "Don't apologise, You'd be surprised at how often it happens".

I rarely buy meat from any supermarket. I shall continue to use my local village butcher.

[Paulatic]

doorstep (what have they done to milk to make it keep longer?).

I tried to dig into this a few years ago and the best answers I could come up with were, much better hygiene in the milking parlours, and as virtually all small dairy farms have now all went out of business, the remaining mega ones have collections once or even twice a day so as time from cow to shelf is now super fast.

Still don't quite get how it now lasts weeks instead of a few days.! So still looking for a more convincing argument.

You are correct it is all based on hygiene and Bacteria counts . Youngest son worked at ARLA for a while.
Whilst a number of supermarkets got their milk from there they all have differing standards.
My college years in 1972 we visited French dairy farms and were appalled at their standards of line cleanliness. (Lack of).

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
I haven't read the whole post yet.
But who has a thermometer in their fridge?
Today on the farm and Morrisons representative said that 1° to warm the fridge over 5° and your milk lasts one day less?

I have fridge thermometers and I look at them regularly.
Why because the temperature at the top is very much different from the temperature at the bottom.

[rjb]

I bought an Aldi "fresh" chicken recently. Kept it in the the fridge for 2 days. Opened the plastic packaging and was greeted by a disgusting "rotten meat " smell.
Took it back to Aldi.
Me - "Sorry to have to return this to you but it smells foul".
Manager - "Don't apologise, You'd be surprised at how often it happens".

Manager meant you are correct sir it is "Fowl".

They should do this in the summer when the milk delivery has been sitting out in the sun all day. I avoid certain supermarkets where I've had gone off milk days before the use by date. When I buy milk I always go for the longest dated ones at the back of the pallett.

[LollyKat]

When I buy milk I always go for the longest dated ones at the back of the pallett.

So do I. On Saturday 8 Jan I bought a 4-pint plastic bottle of Graham's organic semi-skimmed, "use by" date 14 Jan, from my local shop (ASDA). I put it in the fridge as usual and opened it the next day. Today, i.e. two days later it tasted and smelled a bit off - I tried scalding it but it curdled and I had to tip it away, nearly a full bottle. I don't remember this ever happening before with such a long 'use by' date. The top and inner seal had been on tight, the weather is cold and our unheated kitchen is freezing unless the oven is on.

If Morrisons are going to stop dating the milk, how are shoppers to know how old it is? They would end up wasting a lot more milk if it is going to go sour without warning.

[Psamathe]

When I buy milk I always go for the longest dated ones at the back of the pallett.

When I go buy in supermarket (rather than home delivery) I do that with everything that has dates (chilled, veg, etc.)

Ian

[Mick F]

Bought a pack of Sharwoods Peshwari naans today 10th Jan 2022.
Best Before date is 22nd March 2022.
Nice long date.

It says freeze on day of purchase and to use within one month.

These two statements don't go together well.

[rjb]

Bought a pack of Sharwoods Peshwari naans today 10th Jan 2022.
Best Before date is 22nd March 2022.
Nice long date.

It says freeze on day of purchase and to use within one month.

These two statements don't go together well.

Its all too confusing for most people, even more so when some food has a display date to add to the confusion.

[mjr]

When I buy milk I always go for the longest dated ones at the back of the pallett.

So do I. On Saturday 8 Jan I bought a 4-pint plastic bottle of Graham's organic semi-skimmed, "use by" date 14 Jan, from my local shop (ASDA). I put it in the fridge as usual and opened it the next day. Today, i.e. two days later it tasted and smelled a bit off - I tried scalding it but it curdled and I had to tip it away, nearly a full bottle. I don't remember this ever happening before with such a long 'use by' date. The top and inner seal had been on tight, the weather is cold and our unheated kitchen is freezing unless the oven is on.

If Morrisons are going to stop dating the milk, how are shoppers to know how old it is? They would end up wasting a lot more milk if it is going to go sour without warning.

That's what this is really about: if they get rid of use-by dates then low-volume users can't pick the longest-dated ones, skip it if it's too short-date, or complain when it goes off days before the stated date even when kept cool. It'll save them money and reduce their wastage figures if they don't have to pour so much away, but their customers do!

If Morrisons really cared about wastage of milk, they would stock filtered fresh milk in smaller sizes than 2 litres in all stores. 2 litres is the smallest I've ever seen in ours and there's no gaps where the smaller ones should be. Other shops have 1 litre and 1 pt sizes. If you buy milk at Moribund, you either have to use it quick or buy UHT.

[Jdsk]

NB... date.

"M&S to remove ‘best before’ labels from 300 fruit and veg items to cut food waste":
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... food-waste

Jonathan

[Bsteel]

NB... date.

"M&S to remove ‘best before’ labels from 300 fruit and veg items to cut food waste":
https://www.theguardian.com/environment ... food-waste

Jonathan

Wouldn't this only work if they hold back obviously fresher produce from the shelves. Dynamically pricing the product based on it's age may be a better way to sway price conscious consumers.

[axel_knutt]

They would end up wasting a lot more milk if it is going to go sour without warning.

That's what this is really about: It'll save them money and reduce their wastage figures if they don't have to pour so much away, but their customers do!

It's the same with fruit. They like to sell unripe fruit with the message "ripen at home", but anyone holding a large stock of unripe fruit runs the risk that it will ripen faster than they can use it. All they're doing is shifting that risk from the shop onto the consumer.

Shifting the risk and the waste from the retailer to the consumer isn't a particularly clever thing to do when consumers are already wasting 30 times more than the shops in the first place. Supermarkets obviously put a lot more resource into stock control and waste management than the average household, so they need to be looking for measures that shift the risk the other way.

buy UHT.

I've been doing that for 30 odd years, fresh milk just isn't worth the hassle.

[Jules59]

My milkman brings 2 or 3 pints to my house several times a week - they have dates on the foil tops .We just line then up in the fridge and work from one end.

Best before dates are loved by industry as it encourages people to chuck out perfectly good food and buy more.

As a beekeeper I have to place a Best Before date on my jars. Nobody knows what that time period is as honey can last centuries. So we just add one or two years onto the date it was produced.

[wirral_cyclist]

My milkman brings 2 or 3 pints to my house several times a week - they have dates on the foil tops .

My brother used to throw any unused milk out every night as it was no longer 'fresh'. Kept a milkman in work back in the days when home delivery wasn't trendy.

[Psamathe]

When I visited supermarkets (rarely these days) I did my shop for as long as possible and found best before/use by very useful as e.g. all fruit & veg best before day after tomorrow likely wont work if shopping for 1+ weeks ahead.

I wouldn't throw stuff away based on the use y dates but a great help selecting items in the supermarket if you're not shopping frequently.

Ian