Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Check your sell-by dates on stuff from GL
I have just had dinner ruined by a pack of anchovies that were out of date by 4 months, I thought I was being precious about the smell of our food until I checked the sell by date. Bare in mind my nickname in the house is The Goat- because I will not allow food to go to waste, I finish everything the rest of the family leave behind!
I will not name and shame- but I shop regularly at this shop, and often see out of date stock for sale. I did go back after dinner, and got my £1.79 back- I am expecting my next shop there will be free.
There is a special prize if you can see the most out of date item on the shelves when I went back (they are now gone BTW). The manager blamed the supplier...
I am now crossing my fingers that none of us are sick tonight/tomorrow as a result.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Touch wood for you all, Justin.
After tonight is over, how do you plan to handle this?
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Permalink Reply by Justin Guest on
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That is a good question Hugh. I am not sure what I can do. I went to the shop and talked with the lady on the till (who I have know for 15+ years) and the manager (who I have not seen before, and who spoke some, but limited English). As I mentioned, he tried to pass the buck to his suppliers, but I know I have had stuff from there before that was out of code. So, this is not a first. And, I suspect it is standard practice to buy things up cheap that are close to their best before date and then sell it on.
Thankfully I have had a passable night and none of us found ourselves wrapped around the big white telephone at 3am, so I am less included to chase it up beyond the conversation I had with the shop folks- as I said, I am not sure what else I can do at this point. I will be keeping a beady eye on BB dates in future though- but it is sad you cannot trust the people supplying food to you.
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You could make a complaint to Haringey’s Food Safety team, but its a difficult call if you have a long established relationship with them. I guess you guys have to decide whether they deserve your loyalty and if you think they are treating the issue seriously and are taking responsibility, or whether they and the community would benefit from a wake-up call. Not an easy decision. (Keep any offending material if you might reluctantly lodge a complaint).
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Thanks Hugh. I have kept the materials and the photos.
A nudge to the food safety team to do some spot checks may not necessarily be a bad thing. I suspect there are several places on GL that could do with knowing they are accountable, and there are folks who will hold them to account.
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Permalink Reply by JamesN on
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It's not illegal to sell goods past their best before date. Nor is it unsafe. Four months for tinned fish in oil? I think you are overreacting here.
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I know what the Food Standards Agency say about BBE dates, but personally I wouldn’t fancy eating canned fish after their date, despite received wisdom giving such products a couple of years or more of safety after it has passed.
Safe or not, past the BBE date a product can no longer be considered ‘fresh’: it should be marked and priced as such.
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The overreacting comment is a bit harsh James- especially since you were not there and did not smell or taste what came out of the tin. I still have the tin, you are welcome to come check it out and see how you might have reacted once you have smelt it. I refer you to my comment above about not being shy of eating food others would fear to touch!
I would suggest something that was BB July 2023 is pushing the bounds of what is and is not reasonable. I would also flag that while most things should be fine, it depends how it has been stored- if it has been sat baking since it was packed who knows what state it is in when it comes out of the tin.
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The 'use by' dates for chilled foods are the ones I'd be checking - any slippage there in 'your' shop is a legal issue.
(if I spot one at the local large supermarkets I collar a staff member. They know it matters judging by their reaction.)
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I'm very warey of eating anything from Green Lanes. I've seen too many instances of this sort of thing and visibly rotting fruit, vegetables and greying meat in the supermarkets. It's a combination of shop owners and their staff being ignorant of food safety or simply not caring and a lack of enforcement from local inspectors.
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The Polish (Poziomka) and Hungarian (Paprika) shops are very good.
Not sure if they do anchovies but you're bound to find some herring.
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Best Before Date (BBD) is not the same as "Use By" which is preserved (excuse the pun) for spoilable fresh food.
BBD merely states the time window for which the product will be optimum. If the tin is undented, rust free and still perfectly sealed the product therein is still fine to consume post BBD (but the sniff-test is still a wise move)
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