Certifying foods that have passed "best before date"

[CPH TRADING]

Hello
I am a food trader and trade in foods that have gone "out of date" i.e their best before dates have passed. I am trying to find out the legalities involved with respect to having food items tested (to ensure still fit for human consumption) and wether or not once this is confirmed if it is lawful to then re-date the product according to lab analysis report/date extension permitted? Is permission of manufacturer required? Another question would then be if I could potentially de-identify the product (remove label/packaging) and then re-brand, obviously ensuring that all current food labelling requirements are adhered to. Can anybody advise or point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Chris

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Talk about a very dangerous game doing either with the insurance costs probably impossible to pay, and who would spend hours checking the quality of the goods

Even making it into dog or cat food would be a massive financial risk if proven the food had been off

 

[CPH TRADING]

That's just the point Chris it's not dangerous at all! Best before dates are more a matter of quality and not safety - as long as the foodstuffs have been stored correctly! The manufacturer of products with best before dates are merely saying that the food may not be of the same quality after the best before date has passed! "Use by" dates are the dates that are a lot more important in the fact that the food may not be safe to eat after this date. Foods that have passed their best before dates are routinely tested by laboratory's all the time and when passed as still being fit for human consumption they are re-dated by the manufacturer and put back on sale!

 

[CPH TRADING]

This is an extract from the Daily Telegraph -

By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter

12:01AM BST 28 Aug 2005


Food manufacturers are secretly re-labelling millions of pounds worth of food that is past its "best before" dates so that it can be sold after the original deadline expires.

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has demonstrated that some best before dates are being illegally pushed back by as much as four years, while other products are legally given new dates after the makers decide that the health of consumers is not endangered.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Talk about a very dangerous game doing either with the insurance costs probably impossible to pay, and who would spend hours checking the quality of the goods

Even making it into dog or cat food would be a massive financial risk if proven the food had been off

I take it you never saw the TV documentary about this lot then......

https://www.approvedfood.co.uk/

Or the hundreds of other companies out there that sell past 'Best Before' foodstuffs.

 

[The Byre]

It is illegal for stores and restaurants to sell food past its “Use By” date. However, they are allowed to sell food after it has passed the “Best Until” “Best Before” “Sell By” or “Display Until” dates stamped on the sides of packages.

Look up Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers (FIC).

 

[CPH TRADING]

Correct, thanks for the info, i'll check it out.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

Hello
I am a food trader and trade in foods that have gone "out of date" i.e their best before dates have passed. I am trying to find out the legalities involved with respect to having food items tested (to ensure still fit for human consumption) and wether or not once this is confirmed if it is lawful to then re-date the product according to lab analysis report/date extension permitted? Is permission of manufacturer required? Another question would then be if I could potentially de-identify the product (remove label/packaging) and then re-brand, obviously ensuring that all current food labelling requirements are adhered to. Can anybody advise or point me in the right direction?

Thanks

Chris

I'd be very surprised if there's any profit in that.

Approved Food has it right, i.e. simply selling on food that is near its best before date or has just passed it recently (so it's virtually guaranteed to still be safe).

What you're suggesting costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time. You can't just test one product in a batch because other products may have been in slightly different conditions. You would have to open all of them and test all of them (presuming you're trying to sell products way past their best before date).

Removing labelling and packaging would also be prohibitively expensive.

There's also a PR issue, even if it is legal. Your new branding would have to state that it's re-packaged food that was previously past its best before date, because if someone didn't know and then found out, it would be a scandal regardless of the legalities.

It just sounds like a lot of work, a lot of money and a lot of hassle for very little profit - if any at all.

 

[Ally Maxwell]

I'd be very surprised if there's any profit in that.

Approved Food has it right, i.e. simply selling on food that is near its best before date or has just passed it recently (so it's virtually guaranteed to still be safe).

What you're suggesting costs a lot of money and takes a lot of time. You can't just test one product in a batch because other products may have been in slightly different conditions. You would have to open all of them and test all of them (presuming you're trying to sell products way past their best before date).

Removing labelling and packaging would also be prohibitively expensive.

There's also a PR issue, even if it is legal. Your new branding would have to state that it's re-packaged food that was previously past its best before date, because if someone didn't know and then found out, it would be a scandal regardless of the legalities.

It just sounds like a lot of work, a lot of money and a lot of hassle for very little profit - if any at all.

You just made all that up without actually knowing anything, didn't you

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

You just made all that up without actually knowing anything, didn't you

It's called common sense.

1). Buy food past its best before date
2). Test food for myriad bacteria, viruses and fungi
3). Await lab reports
4). Remove all packaging, by hand, in a controlled environment to avoid contamination
5). Re-apply all packaging and labelling
6). Sell the food on to retailers at a wholesale price that allows for the retailer's margin

Where's the profit if you're selling food products that typically use a "best before"? More expensive foods (such as fresh fish and meat) don't, for obvious reasons. You're therefore looking at tinned foods, jarred foods and dried foods, which rarely sell for more than £1-£2 per item - often less.

Where's the profit?

And given the OP's questions about testing, it seems as though they don't intend to sell food that has only recently passed its best before date, as that doesn't require testing. The only reason a test would be required is if it's way past its best before date, where the quality of the food then becomes an issue.

The many companies that successfully sell food past the best before date are buying this food cheaper, in bulk, and then immediately selling it on. Depackaging, testing and repackaging to make sure it's fit to eat is an entirely different ballgame.

 

[ecommerce84]

I was only saying to my partner this morning that I think best before dates should be taken off of certain foods after seeing a friend binning a dozen or so packet sausage casserole and chilli mixes as they had passed their ‘Best Before’ date.

Best before is exactly that and I’m amazed at the number of people that throw away food that has passed that date as if it suddenly guarantees you e-coil the second the clock strikes midnight on that date.

 

[Mr D]

I was only saying to my partner this morning that I think best before dates should be taken off of certain foods after seeing a friend binning a dozen or so packet sausage casserole and chilli mixes as they had passed their ‘Best Before’ date.

Best before is exactly that and I’m amazed at the number of people that throw away food that has passed that date as if it suddenly guarantees you e-coil the second the clock strikes midnight on that date.

I'll happily use dry mixes past the date. Meat, dairy, bread or cake I won't.
On 23rd December I picked up some bacon, wasn't until was putting it in the bag after going through checkout that I realised it was dated 22nd. They had 2 boxes of 22nd's bacon being sold.

 

[CPH TRADING]

Scott I very much appreciate your comments. However it is blatantly obvious that you don't have a clue what you are talking about. I have been in the food game for twenty years and although I don't drive around in a Lamborghini and live in Monaco it has nonetheless given me a very good living. I suggest that unless you know what you are talking about then keep quiet man.

 

[Scott-Copywriter]

I'll happily use dry mixes past the date. Meat, dairy, bread or cake I won't.
On 23rd December I picked up some bacon, wasn't until was putting it in the bag after going through checkout that I realised it was dated 22nd. They had 2 boxes of 22nd's bacon being sold.

This reminds me of a video of a guy who ate steak that had been dry-aged for 400 days.

Oh, and he tried it raw, too.

 

[CPH TRADING]

Please read my initial post! Also the products that I trade sell for considerably more than £1 - £2 per unit, They can sell for £20 per tin! Plus how can you assume that there is no profit if you don't know the cost price! I thought that this site was for business people!

 

[Chris Ashdown]

Where did you ever state you were talking about tinned food and not fresh food Christopher?

You ask a very open question with no details and expect readers to second guess the products you have in mind

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Fresh food generally has a Use By date.........I thought that was obvious ! As the man says, this is meant to be a business forum, not one for people who can't add 2 and 2.......

 

[CPH TRADING]

hear hear Ally

 

[CPH TRADING]

christ this is hard work!

 

[GTL]

A food technologist is a good first start perhaps; that's where I would start. My sense is that testing microbiological and moisture activity is where the emphasis is, but I am going a little beyond my comfort zone now. I know several technologists - drop me a PM if you want a contact. The labelling is the easy bit.

 

[Noah]

This reminds me of a video of a guy who ate steak that had been dry-aged for 400 days.

Oh, and he tried it raw, too.

Me too (but sans beard, tattoos, and tendy speccies).

 

[Noah]

Food manufacturers are secretly re-labelling millions of pounds worth of food that is past its "best before" dates so that it can be sold after the original deadline expires.

An investigation by The Sunday Telegraph has demonstrated that some best before dates are being illegally pushed back by as much as four years,

I'm sceptical about this "illegal" claim - we set our own Best Before dates and I am reasonably confident that there is no regulatory nor legal significance to this term and hence nothing illegal in changing it.

To be clear, I am just re-iterating information already imparted in this thread, but I thought there seems to be some misunderstanding here still - as there is among our customers, so we have created a problem for ourselves by being so rigorous and conscientious about applying Best Before dates.

 

[DontAsk]

I just ate a yoghurt dated 20th December. It was fine.

 

[deanpunchard]

Isn't this essentially what these guys are doing?

https://www.approvedfood.co.uk/

 

[Ally Maxwell]

Isn't this essentially what these guys are doing?

https://www.approvedfood.co.uk/

Yes exactly that. It was also what they were doing near the start of this thread where they were mentioned.