A Reply From My Health Food Store Concerning the Expired Food Scandal

"Food expiration dates are a very difficult issue to deal with. In the first place, with the exception of infant formula and some baby foods, food companies are not required by federal law to date their products, although some state regulations do require them for certain products. Virginia Food Laws prohibit the removal of product dating from fresh meat, poultry, or seafood, but does not apply to canned or cured meat products. That's it.

Especially with fresh products, the best by or expiration date can be a very helpful guide. At least you know, more or less, when the product was produced. I rarely bring home the cream top milk in glass quarts until it has expired, and since it's been well refrigerated all along, and goes right into my fridge, it is often good for a week to 10days past the expiration date. Same with well sealed yogurts, sour cream, cottage cheese, etc. I have opened a six month old 7 Stars yogurt and it looked, smelled, and tasted great. Maybe a little more yogurty.

Since we have had the stores, we have seen a huge increase in the expiration date scam perpetrated on us (the store) and you (the consumer) by the food companies. Products that are good forever, more or less, like rice, sugar, honey, dried beans, are being given outdates just 6 months out. This forces the store, if we never want to have "expired" dates on our shelves to either throw or give them away, knowing perfectly well that they are still fine, since we only bought them 5 weeks ago. Or it makes our customers crazy, because they really have no idea how long ago the product was produced.

Some companies (I know, I pinned one down and got a straight answer) put different expiration dates ON THE VERY SAME PRODUCT, depending on what supply chain they are going into. If they are going into mass distribution (Walmart, Kroger, the big guys) then they get a 1 year out date. If they are going into small, "boutique" or "specialty" distribution, then they get a three month outdate. (This was a roasted whole coffee bean outfit I was talking to.) I can walk the floors at food shows and see the same product in two separate packagings, right next to each other, one with a short date and one with a long date. The long date are only available by the pallet, much too much for a small store to buy.

So, what are you and I to do? We are both being taken advantage of by the big guys, again. The USDA says canned meats are good for 1 to 2 years if stored properly. That cat food was shipped to us mid November. Now how does that figure?

All this does is make you and me throw away food that is still perfectly good, and BUY MORE. It is no longer about protecting you and me, but forcing more frequent consumer purchases to further the bottom line of the latest grubby mega corporation.

I could give expired food away to local soup kitchens or charities, in fact, we used to do a lot of that. But they can no longer take a product, even one like dried macaroni elbows, with an expiration date, because they got sued by some homeless person who claimed they became ill from outdated food, and won a huge judgment in court.

The whole system is completely out of whack. Makes me crazy!

So, now you have my take on the issue. All we can do is head for the hills and grow our own food."

Our own local food bank representative said on camera that they get expired food all the time, and they haven't received any complaints, and to her knowledge, nobody's gotten sick.

...and people are paying good money for this stuff in stores, whether discounted or not! This stuff is evidently sitting around in warehouses for long periods of time before it ever makes it to our grocery stores--a few years ago, I mentioned that imports had slowed to the point that the manufacturing was getting backed up all the way to the supplier level, and apparently this is proof of a major backup in the food processing arena. To top it off, apparently there's some rationing going on (as to who gets what expiration date, depending on size of order).

This is either a result of banks not lending to grocery stores, distributors, or manufacturers, or this is one hell of a profit-maker for the entire food chain, factoring in the "food crisis" and the timing of the restock--higher prices will be asked to replenish stock, and higher prices will be asked of you in return, so to avoid all that, just push the old stuff, and price it like new stuff.

To think Michelle Obama's only food concern is for childhood obesity--who do you think's eating this food? Parents and kids. She wants us all to get up off the couch, but hasn't addressed food quality...yet. I doubt she'll rock this boat very much--her husband's running for re-election.

So much for MORE regulation--the regulation we already have isn't working. Unless this food quality thing is addressed, I foresee nothing but bad stuff when the Health Care Reform law goes into effect. The hospitals shouldn't have to be the ones who clean up after some mess made by Del Monte, Heinz, ConAgra, or any other processed food manufacturer.