What a waste of perfectly good food !! Pathetic H&S rules..

[YouFo666]

I recently had a contract to bulk deliver pre packed sandwiches and salad/pasta boxes to wholesale food companies up and down the country. I was stunned when returning to the food factory to see three large plastic skips all full with hundreds of pre packed food that had reached the best before date. I asked what they did with them expecting that at the very least they would all go to a local pig farmer !! Nope.. All the lot are incinerated. You are not even allowed to take any out for your pets as a treat I cant see any problem in them donating them to places like the cathederal project or similar as its only a best before date and they are all sealed for freshness Wasnt it the government harping on about saving food not so long ago ? Definately a case of H&S gone mental.

 

Would you eat sandwiches that were on their Best Before Date ? I know i would if they were free.. Waste not want not ...

[Agent Orange]

It does seem an awful waste, especially when they could be used for feeding the homeless etc. Nothing wrong with food on the best before date, imo.

[sccsux]

Would you eat sandwiches that were on their Best Before Date ?

 

Makes you wonder how we managed in the 60s & 70s (I don't remember any sell/use by dates then).

[splodgeyAl]

I've eaten prepack egg mayo sandwiches, past their use by and that have not been refrigerated.

 

Mad cow disease, I believe, was the reason that Cargill, erm, the Government decided that old food would be better in landfill creating methane, than being used as cheap animal food

[Grissom]

M&S manage to give their date-expired stuff away - see the Food section of this page

 

http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/howwedobusiness/our_policies/funding

 

How do they manage that then ?

[CottonTop]

I think there is a cushion built into the best before date and I've often eaten things past that date with no ill effects. It is a great waste when that food could be used by someone else.

[BananaSplit]

Best Before means just that. It's certainly not unfit for eating on that date.

 

The mention of the pigfarmer reminds me of my school days, when all the leftovers from the canteen (scraped off the plate and all) were put in huge vats for the pigfarmer to collect!

[splodgeyAl]

M&S manage to give their date-expired stuff away - see the Food section of this page

 

http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/howwedobusiness/our_policies/funding

 

How do they manage that then ?

 

Would be intersting to know if FareShare still exist, and if so, are they as good as their website would have you believe...

 

http://www.fareshare.org.uk/about/index.html

[Dozy]

M&S manage to give their date-expired stuff away - see the Food section of this page

 

http://corporate.marksandspencer.com/howwedobusiness/our_policies/funding

 

How do they manage that then ?

My bold

 

Probably by being willing to fund the staff time it takes to implement such a system!

 

I often eat sandwiches on their sell or use by date - the Co-op usually reduces them to half price. I'll even eat them after their sell by date, depending on where I bought them.

 

I tend to use my nose when it comes to edibility - I recently finished off a tub of extra thick double cream that was about 4 or 5 days past its use by date. The only ill effect was feeling very slightly queasy, because I'd consumed it with vast amounts of Raspberry Pavlova!!

[Cyclone]

Neither the sell by or best before dates indicate that something might be inedible after that date. A use by date though does.

I wonder if the OP was being completely accurate when they said best before, and if it wasn't use by? Giving away potentially spoiled food (if it was the use by) would open the company to potential legal action. Giving away something past it's sell by or best before date wouldn't carry the same risk though. (IANAL)