Retailers selling products past their sell-by date

[ASuperGav]

What do I do if a shop sells me a food product i.e. cider nearly a year past its sell-by date and it made me violently ill?

[Ethel]

You go to your GP so a note is made in your medical records and contact environmental health at your local council.

It will help if you have the receipt and the bottle.

Many people get violently ill if they drink cider within the sell by dates - it depends how much they consume. :)

[figure]

Lucky you Ethel, you got one star for a good answer. ;-)

[loonytunes]

So you bought it and drank it despite the date being displayed on it and now you want to hold the shop responsible? Why?

[ASuperGav]

Loonytunes
Cos, if you've been following the thread both in this section and in Food and Drink it 'll suddenly dawn upon you the expiry date is in code.THAT WAS MY ORIGINAL QUESTION TO ANSWERBANK , Eienstein !!!!!!!!!!!! There's no way on God's earth a member of the public could make sense of it::L7177/2. That's what it had stamped on the base. Since ypu can't keep up, I' d ask if you could have yourjob back at Walt Disney making silly tunes.

[Oneeyedvic]

Firstly, how would any reasonable person know that you had another question in another section? I certainly didn't until you pointed it out.

Secondly, in your original question, it is pointed out that the date is the manufactured date not the best before date.

Thirdly, as brachiopod states in answer to your other question, you obviously do not understand the difference between dates, as there is no legal terms such as sell-by or expiry date - the terms are use by and best before

Fourthly, and in answer to your question, there is no law against selling items after the best before date because as the term implies, the product is best consumed before that date, but may deteriorate in quality afterwards.

However an offence may have been committed under Section 14 of the Food Safety Act 1990 as the cider may not be of the 'quality demanded by the purchaser'.

Your first port of call will be to your local environmental health or trading standards. You will probably need to still have some contents of the can or if you have drunk the can and not thought there was anything wrong, then you will require stool and / or vomit samples.

[ASuperGav]

Oneeyedvic
This is what Answerbank is all about. Thank you Oneeyedvic for a very informative answer. I raised this question in both Law and Food and Drink as apart from one Answerbank member who deciphered the code for me, the rest where a waste of time. My limited understanding was that it was against the Law to sell ANYTHING past their expiry date and I could have had this retailer for selling goods 'not fit for purchase'

Regards,


Gav

[Oneeyedvic]

It is against the law to sell something past its use by date - but cider will definitely not come into this category.

'Fit for purpose' is only for goods or services - this will come under Food Safety legislation.

[bednobs]

have you looked elsewhere on the can/bottle/bottle top? or on other cans/bottle in the pack You only have the manufacture date, not the best before/use by date. there is nothing to suppose that cider will have passed its use by date a year after manufacture - thats why they put stuff in tins and bottles, to preserve them for longer! I think you are making a massive assumption!

[ASuperGav]

This subject is also discussed under Food and Drink
Yeah, ok people.I get the picture. Retailers can sell cans of anything no matter how old they are. Serials no's are just there to reassure people that they can drink a drink ages old, get sick and ill and it has nothing to do with how old it has been wallowing in the basement before the retailer decides to sell at rock bottom prices. The fact I was fine up till the time I drank the stuff is a coincidence and I'm a ********. Satisfied? I'd like all of you with these excuses to drink or eat something that makes you sick and have other people tell you it has nothing to do with whatever you had. Happy now? What a total futile waste of time all this has been!