Multinational Superstore Chain, Selling Expired Food

[surayu]

who cares if they are 'expired'.

I support your freedom to buy expired food, however i am against "presumably" serious stores taking the freedom to sell them to everyone, if they really want to, then they should make sure that customers are aware of this and not trying to pretend that they are exactly as the other products for sale, because they are not

[surayu]

I've pretty regularly found REGULAR PRICE items at various of the farang supermarkets in BKK, seemingly the Central Markets more than the others, where packaged food items are on the shelf at regular prices AND expired sell-by dates.

Hey you remind me of something that has happened to me inside the now defunct (in thai soil), Carrefour.

I was asking at one of those staff running around the store floor on their rollerblades, how comes the french cheese on the fridge was still bearing the same price tags despite being the date of his expiration, i was expecting to see a new discounted label.....well, he removed all of them from the fridge and told me i couldn't buy them, another case of succesfull store managements at their best

[notmyself]

Among the various industries I have been involved with was food. A use by date HAS to be attached and this often does not reflect the 'real' date but is used to increase sales.

Yes it does.

Please excuse my ignorance.... How does it increase sales?

The manufacturer doesn't care if the vendor sells the product or gives it away for free, they only care about repeat orders. A short use by date reduces bulk buying so the manufacturer can get more profit per item.

[notmyself]

Among the various industries I have been involved with was food. A use by date HAS to be attached and this often does not reflect the 'real' date but is used to increase sales.

Yes it does.

Please excuse my ignorance.... How does it increase sales?

Lots of people will throw out any food that is even one day expired. Then they have to go buy more.

Some of the bigger vendors ask for a shorter use by date for this exact rason. People in the west will go to do a big shop once a week on the same day and at the same supermarket so it's called the 7 day forecast.

[ysamui]

Among the various industries I have been involved with was food. A use by date HAS to be attached and this often does not reflect the 'real' date but is used to increase sales.

Yes it does.

Please excuse my ignorance.... How does it increase sales?

Lots of people will throw out any food that is even one day expired. Then they have to go buy more.

Ok, I had never thought of it that way!

[manarak]

The store should have clearly stated that the products are past date, but since this type of product does not pose a health risk, I think expired lots can be offered for sale. It's still food.

I'm all for letting the customer make the decision, fully informed.

The store should have clearly marked the products as past date - as a customer I would probably have bought them.

Same as I buy dried sausage or Italian coppa - these products just have about 2 weeks shelf like, but were originally designed to be kept for months before refrigeration was invented! Same with Parmesan cheese and Hams (Black Forest, Bayonne or Spanish).

[Beetlejuice]

I would never trust the big stores again after having some bad experiences with food items.

In the past I have bought bread, fruit, veggies, packets of frozen food that were substantially reduced in price because they were on the last day of they’re sell by dates. Got them home and the missus discovered everything was off and inedible.

I have also witnessed staff peeling off old sell by date stick on tags and replacing them with new lables with extended sell by dates.

Now I treat anything I buy at these stores the same as I would when purchasing anything from a market stall or in Joe Blogs corner shop down the back of a Soi somewhere, with caution.

Also if possible check your bills immediately after the goods have been purchased, because quite frequently the till prices are higher than the mark-ups on the shelves.

Another example: one week they are selling a 200gm packet of whatever brand of coffee for 200 baht. The following week the same coffee has increased to 240 baht with a shelve label claiming that the coffee is now 240 baht reduced from 270 baht, when in fact the price has increased 40 baht from the previous week.

They’re out to get us folks, so tread carefully out there.

Thank you surayu for bringing this to our attention.

Edited April 19, 2012 by Beetlejuice

[vtjforyou]

Who believes that expired food is not good ? Stupid !

[surayu]

Who believes that expired food is not good ? Stupid !

Even scavengers have a right to express their own reasons and i respect that

[necronx99]

Yes i can confirm the product was "noodles".

When i walk inside a "western owned" business, i am expecting that basic health rules would be respected, after all, if they have an expiry date, it must mean something, so, it would be the people in charge of making these sort of decision working in the company in question to make sure at least the very basic requirements are adhered to

Edit:

and also make sure that the managers implement these discounts BEFORE the expiration date, not having a 6 months nap and then wake up to start the sales, i am scared to think with what else they might come up with, not long ago i can recall another place(not Tesco) switching off all the fridges at night to save on the bills !

"if they have an expiry date, it must mean something"

Yes it does. There is a convention, or several conventions. IT depends on how it is labelled.

Use By or Expires On is generally a date at which the product will begin to spoil and is likely to be inedible from a few days afte that date.

Best Before and other wordings are the date that the manufacturor guesses the product will begin to go stale or begin to lose taste, flavour or quality. many long life products have no effective spoil date and very long degradation dates. Producers will usually put a year or two on products than are safe to eat for many years longer just to be conservative. Those noodles will probabaly be edible for years.

[maxme]

Though initially a Thai rumor, some of the bbq places have been caught buying bad meat from thr market. However come to think about it, how else could they offer such a low price for a buffet?

[draftvader]

The other people? None of our business.

No no no, sorry, i have a coscience and even if those people never had any sort of interaction with me before and probably will never have in the future, it really upset me that someone perhaps it's going to get sick because of a deceitfull business practice!

I don't think that Mr Clarke could walk out scott free if he tried these deals with the brits, irish or any other developed society, but they are doing it with the thais! what a shame

My point is that we have, on the whole, left nanny-states for a slightly "free-er" life. If people want to buy food that is past its sell by date (note, not expiry date) then that is up to them. Yesterday I bought 4 Normandy Camemberts for B75 each (down from B255). It's cheese, the sell by date is WELL before the food's expiry date. Froze 3, having 1 for lunch today....LOVELY!

--EDIT--

In fact, check out http://www.foodbargains.co.uk/ as one of the many businesses set up to exploit this loophole.

Edited April 19, 2012 by draftvader

[Gippy]

Check out the 'Finest' Belgium chocolate tart, it's sitting on a normal shelf despite having 'keep frozen' on the package. I pointed this out to the customer service but they couldn't care less.

[aneliane]

Every day 55% of the food produced in the world goes to trash.

It's a disgrace.

Throwing a bag of flour is equivalent to waste 100 liters of water

[jackr]

Tesco in Thailand is good for cheap shorts, cacks and a backup for beer; why would one use it for anything else?

[xthAi76s]

its not really all that dishonest ,

those noodles would last for years ,i have bought jars of coffee ,crates of beer and probably other stufff in the past that has a use by date but doesnt really change

dishonest would be changing the dates ,or hiding the expired date with a sticker and selling it for normal price

they are giving people a choice to buy a poduct for 4 thb thats perfectly fine to be eaten

differnt if it were fresh meat or dairy product that might cause a risk but these are as "wholesome" as they ever were .......

Sadly, this is quite necessary in Thailand and esp as many of Tesco Lotus' customers are dirt poor. Helps that poor Thais have stomachs like nuclear fission reactors. They wouldn't buy if they were always getting deathly ill.

[xthAi76s]

Tesco in Thailand is good for cheap shorts, cacks and a backup for beer; why would one use it for anything else?

Hmmm... Let's say I have 10 items to get. Let's also say that I live near a Tesco Lotus. I will get what I can from Tesco Lotus, say 7 items, and then do the remainder of my shopping elsewhere. I often complete my shopping at Emporium.

[chrisinth]

Tesco have been doing this for years up here, although it is normally for the daily consumables like bread and milk. They will have a "discount" table setup from about 19:00 until closing. Better to use it instead of ditching it!

As for past expiry items, I wouldn't have a problem with that as long as the good are segregated from normal stock and the consumer understands what they are paying for. It is then up to the consumer if they want to buy or not. I couldn't see a company like Tesco putting anything past recommended sell-by on discount sale if there was any chance that it could cause harm.

[buddy]

I've pretty regularly found REGULAR PRICE items at various of the farang supermarkets in BKK, seemingly the Central Markets more than the others, where packaged food items are on the shelf at regular prices AND expired sell-by dates.

Hey you remind me of something that has happened to me inside the now defunct (in thai soil), Carrefour.

I was asking at one of those staff running around the store floor on their rollerblades, how comes the french cheese on the fridge was still bearing the same price tags despite being the date of his expiration, i was expecting to see a new discounted label.....well, he removed all of them from the fridge and told me i couldn't buy them, another case of succesfull store managements at their best

I would not buy any fresh or frozen food from the old revamped Carrefour stores which are now renamed Big C stores in Thailand.

The reason is the refrigeration in most stores is badly maintained so most food is not being held at the proper temperatures.

So it doesn't matter about the expiry date, its irrelevant.

Big C have some real food quality issues.

Just trust me I know.

[jcw]

I have seen fresh milk, Dutch Brand, for sale in Tesco that was 4 days past expiry. Stupid me even pointed it out to staff, they just put it back in the cool shelf. It was not discounted or anything. I have Thai made shredded mozzarella cheese in Big C that was hard core off, 2 packs that were 99% covered in dark green mold and fungus looking stuff, it is normally yellow the same brand. Exactly the same reaction. Tesco is British owned and Big C French with their Thai operations top dogs run by westerners, Big C Thailand chief executive and president is Mr Yves Braibant and half the board are French.

We should get used to it, http://www.gogoflori...-in-thailand-2/ in 2012 they are opening more. "Not resting on their take over of Carrefour and massive expansion, Big C is continuing to grow in 2012, opening 75 ‘Mini Big C’ branches, 6 Big C Markets and 4 more Big C Supercenters across Thailand."

Edited April 20, 2012 by jcw

[Gary A]

Sometime back a small supermarket chain with outlets in Bangkok and Pattaya was caught replacing the stickers on expired items with new ones extending the sell by date. At least this was an honest way of getting rid of nearly outdated items.

[geriatrickid]

Sometime back a small supermarket chain with outlets in Bangkok and Pattaya was caught replacing the stickers on expired items with new ones extending the sell by date. At least this was an honest way of getting rid of nearly outdated items.

Several franchise holders of major retail chains were caught doing this with packaged meat in the USA and Canada.

I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't happen here. Prior to the changeover to Big C, the Carrefour had smoked salmon on display that was 1-2 months past the best before date. I made the mistake of purchasing a package, and boy I could taste the "offness". My mistake for not checking the date. My local Big One was stocking Blue Diamond almonds that had an expiry date several months past. I don't think there was any intent to deceive anyone as the shelves have a high turnover. I just think that the clerks don't check the dates. It was very odd, because the store has a lot of traffic and no way it would have been intentional. The product was canned in Thailand though. Perhaps a mistake at the packager.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Sometime back a small supermarket chain with outlets in Bangkok and Pattaya was caught replacing the stickers on expired items with new ones extending the sell by date. At least this was an honest way of getting rid of nearly outdated items.

Thanks for that Gary... That was the report and the episode I was recalling above re re-labeling of expired products... Presto... new label...and your store item is no longer out of date. Yeeesh!!!!

I guess that ought to make me feel good about my local Tops Supermarket.. In their meet section, they regularly discount their packaged meat products starting a couple days before their posted expire date, usually with little red stickers that usually discount the item by 30 or 40%... And they don't wait until the final day for that. I've seen them doing that with pricier items starting 3 or 4 days before the manufacturer labeled expire date.

It's also good when they're carrying packed meats from outside vendors that have the vendor's labeling on them. If they're store packaged, the store could easily relabel their own product with new dates. But for the vendor packaged stuff, the store wouldn't have an easy way to relabel something that would exactly match or replace the vendor's own use-by markings.

Edited April 20, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[wana]

Sometime back a small supermarket chain with outlets in Bangkok and Pattaya was caught replacing the stickers on expired items with new ones extending the sell by date. At least this was an honest way of getting rid of nearly outdated items.

Several franchise holders of major retail chains were caught doing this with packaged meat in the USA and Canada.

I wouldn't be surprised if this didn't happen here. Prior to the changeover to Big C, the Carrefour had smoked salmon on display that was 1-2 months past the best before date. I made the mistake of purchasing a package, and boy I could taste the "offness". My mistake for not checking the date. My local Big One was stocking Blue Diamond almonds that had an expiry date several months past. I don't think there was any intent to deceive anyone as the shelves have a high turnover. I just think that the clerks don't check the dates. It was very odd, because the store has a lot of traffic and no way it would have been intentional. The product was canned in Thailand though. Perhaps a mistake at the packager.

everyone is probably reading too much into these things

in a logical country ,shelves would be restocked from the back to ensure .........

doubt that happens here much

bought a huge jug of milk recently in big c,reached in and took it from the back ,went home and found out it expires in 3 days ,i was like <deleted>

[Payboy]

I guess it's Tesco's "Shock Price" guarantee.

Their core purpose statement contains the gem "Ask more than tell".

[pastitche]

Yes i can confirm the product was "noodles".

When i walk inside a "western owned" business, i am expecting that basic health rules would be respected, after all, if they have an expiry date, it must mean something, so, it would be the people in charge of making these sort of decision working in the company in question to make sure at least the very basic requirements are adhered to

Edit:

and also make sure that the managers implement these discounts BEFORE the expiration date, not having a 6 months nap and then wake up to start the sales, i am scared to think with what else they might come up with, not long ago i can recall another place(not Tesco) switching off all the fridges at night to save on the bills !

My old grandmother used to switch off the fridge because she had been told that leaving electrical appliances on, they might go on fire...the butter was usually spreadable Edited April 20, 2012 by pastitche

[jcw]

A friends inlaws used to turn the fridge off at night time to save power. Turns out it cost them more than keeping it on all night.

[pastitche]

its not really all that dishonest ,

those noodles would last for years ,i have bought jars of coffee ,crates of beer and probably other stufff in the past that has a use by date but doesnt really change

dishonest would be changing the dates ,or hiding the expired date with a sticker and selling it for normal price

they are giving people a choice to buy a poduct for 4 thb thats perfectly fine to be eaten

differnt if it were fresh meat or dairy product that might cause a risk but these are as "wholesome" as they ever were .......

Sadly, this is quite necessary in Thailand and esp as many of Tesco Lotus' customers are dirt poor. Helps that poor Thais have stomachs like nuclear fission reactors. They wouldn't buy if they were always getting deathly ill.

Utter nonsense, have you ever been to Tesco? Their prices are nowhere near as low as the local markets used by "dirt poor".

[xthAi76s]

its not really all that dishonest ,

those noodles would last for years ,i have bought jars of coffee ,crates of beer and probably other stufff in the past that has a use by date but doesnt really change

dishonest would be changing the dates ,or hiding the expired date with a sticker and selling it for normal price

they are giving people a choice to buy a poduct for 4 thb thats perfectly fine to be eaten

differnt if it were fresh meat or dairy product that might cause a risk but these are as "wholesome" as they ever were .......

Sadly, this is quite necessary in Thailand and esp as many of Tesco Lotus' customers are dirt poor. Helps that poor Thais have stomachs like nuclear fission reactors. They wouldn't buy if they were always getting deathly ill.

Utter nonsense, have you ever been to Tesco? Their prices are nowhere near as low as the local markets used by "dirt poor".

Ummmm, when was the last time you know of someone who purchased butter, milk, yogurt or similar from a market? Do you live in the 'sticks' or in Bangkok. In Bangkok, Tesco's prices for, as an example, prepared fried chicken are cheaper than the prices for the same product by weight from our local markets. So, what does that say to you, sir?

If you know anything about economics, it's called economies of scale. Tesco is the largest retailer in Thailand and the second largest in the world after Walmart.

Edited April 20, 2012 by xthAi76s

[surayu]

prepared fried chicken are cheaper than the prices for the same product by weight from our local markets. So, what does that say to you, sir?

This is just one of the many possibilities, a really interesting reading too:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3047159.stm