First of all you need to understand the difference in the dates on food:
– Best before dates are about quality, not safety. When the date is passed, it doesn’t mean that the food will be harmful, but it might begin to lose its flavour and texture.
It’s completely legal for shops to sell food past the best before date.
– Use by dates are about food safety, it’s illegal for shops to sell any food that has passed this date. Do not eat any food that has passed the use by date.
– Display until dates are purely for staff members however these are useful to keep an eye on as perishables with that days ‘display until’ date generally will be getting heavily reduced towards the end of the day.
Supermarkets generally don’t want to be seen to sell any food that has past the best before date and will often compensate to say sorry, if a supermarket/shop/pretty much anyone is found to be selling food past the ‘Use by date’ then Trading Standards have authority to fine the owner/shop up to £2000 for the infringement but most importantly will check them out and see if they’re breaking any other rules/regulations etc that might effect other shoppers.
Either way speak with the shop and see what they say, most will simply say sorry and offer you a good will gesture of say £5-£10. It’s up to you if you accept or ask for more. We suggest you ring the supermarket and ask to speak with the manager and or ring head office and do the same.
“I’ve head about websites selling cheap food that has past it’s best before date?” – Yes they’re very popular now, we’ve done a full article about them
Check this site out – They sell food past the best before date
