I'm reminded of an experience I had at a deli. I ordered matzo ball soup. The cup of soup I got had an expiry tag from 2 weeks prior in it. I still ate it. I lived. I can't say that I was happy about it though.
Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
21–30 of 65 posts
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#22I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…
>I eventually realized that for perishable goods, they put the new stuff in the back of the shelves, so now I just head for the back of the shelf when I need to buy perishables there. This is standard practice at grocery stores to put freshest food at the back and soonest to expire in the front. No reason to hate on TJ's on that point.
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#23I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…
>I eventually realized that for perishable goods, they put the new stuff in the back of the shelves, so now I just head for the back of the shelf when I need to buy perishables there. This is standard practice at grocery stores to put freshest food at the back and soonest to expire in the front. No reason to hate on TJ's on that point.
It's called "rotation" and yes it's something grocery store managers struggle to get their lazy employees to keep doing.
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#24With the exception of infant formula, the laws that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers do not preclude the sale of food that is past the expiration date indicated on the label. FDA does not require food firms to place "expired by", "use by" or "best before" dates on food products. This information is entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer. A principle of U.S. food law is that foods in U.S. com…
This is news to me. Having worked for Safeway for many years, we held to those dates religiously.
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
I can understand why they put the lock though. If he eats something and goes ill and then hires a lawyer, the lawyer would be in the position to claim millions in damages from TJ because they did not ensure hazardous waste products weren't "laying around on the street instead of being properly stored". Given that lawsuits with much less merit succeeded, who needs those problems?
I think it was more to discourage people from digging through and maybe leaving a mess (not necessarily the person in the story). It's true that there have been cases where someone is successfully sued in this manner; the source of the danger (which could be food or a uncovered hole in the ground that someone falls into) is known as an 'attractive nuisance', ie something dangerous that is also irresistible. However,…
my acronym research reveals: AN = Absolutely No, TINLA = This Is Not Legal Advice.
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#26I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…
> I eventually realized that for perishable goods, they put the new stuff in the back of the shelves, so now I just head for the back of the shelf when I need to buy perishables there. This sucks for me, since buying at TJs used to be a stress-free experience, and now I check the 'use-by' dates on everything. I just wanted to mention that this is a standard practice called rotation. After all, putting new product in…
Yep, just look at milk. The newer milk is always in the back. If the expiration dates are too short and you won't be able to drink it in time, just look for ones towards the back and get those instead. I generally don't care though as long as the expiration isn't within a week.
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#27With the exception of infant formula, the laws that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers do not preclude the sale of food that is past the expiration date indicated on the label. FDA does not require food firms to place "expired by", "use by" or "best before" dates on food products. This information is entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer. A principle of U.S. food law is that foods in U.S. com…
This is news to me. Having worked for Safeway for many years, we held to those dates religiously.
It's like that was because it wouldn't be good to have customers see "expired" food on your shelves. As a customer, I wouldn't buy food which has gone past the expiration date. Sure, it could be fine to consume but I'd rather purchase food on that's well ahead of the expiration date. Especially since I may not cook/eat the food until a day or so later.
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#28I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. I…
> I HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence
Um, this has NOTHING to do with Trader Joe's! Is it too much to even read the title? Never mind the actual article?
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#29With the exception of infant formula, the laws that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers do not preclude the sale of food that is past the expiration date indicated on the label. FDA does not require food firms to place "expired by", "use by" or "best before" dates on food products. This information is entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer. A principle of U.S. food law is that foods in U.S. com…
The FDA may not require a sell by date, but other governing bodies might. There has been an ongoing dispute over sell by dates stamped on milk in Montana. Montana requires that the sell by date be set to 12 days after pasteurization.
http://m.billingsgazette.com/news/state-and-regional/montana...
Re: Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
#30How is this a "good thing" ?
Take something they rightfully have to give away and instead make profit from it.
I already see grocers giving out tons of food to the local food bank, if they can convince governments to let them profit from it, that is one more path against poverty taken away by corporate entities.
Another way to eliminate waste would be to price the product lower?
If a regional grocery throws away tons of bananas each week, why not make the bananas half the price and run out of bananas each week?