do you check the expiration date of canned goods you buy?
By djmarion
@djmarion (4898)
Philippines
March 8, 2008 9:18am CST
this afternoon i went to my favorite supermarket to shop for our weekly groceries. its a habit actually,i shop every weekend to replenish our stocks for the week.
at the grocery store i happened to pass to the canned goods aisle and see these particular canned tuna, well i did not meant to spy, I'm not really interested since its not the brand I'm going to buy but i happen to notice these tuna cans that looks quite old and the cans are starting to be filled with rust at the bottom. out of curiosity i inspect the cans and took on of them in my hands, i read the label and poppp! the goods are expired. I'm not very surprised since the way i look at the cans i suspected that already,
what i did afterwards was to caught the attention of the person in charge at that goods and report what i saw, he then guiltily look at me while saying apologetically that he will let the manager know about that as ask for its pull-out from the shelf. i shrug my shoulders and leave afterwards.
i just can't understand why on earth would the store managers allow those goods to be displayed there at the aisle when for sure they know its already out of date. they should have throw that away in the first place to avoid consumers to accidentally buy them and prevent further scandal when they found out about it. there's an SOP in every store right?
any perspective?
4 people like this
15 responses
@Hgateway (204)
• United States
11 Mar 08
I don't know how supermarket manage their product, since all products have expiration date, but I suspect that a good size of supermarket has a system that no only track the inventories, but also included the expriation date for particular lots. The reason why I'm saying so due to you can tell that often in time we see sales for certain food in supermarket, and as I check those on sell food's expiration date is much closer to expire; another word, shorter storage time on shelf.
Anyway, it's also our job to make sure whatever food we purchase is still good.
Just my 2 cents!
1 person likes this
@MelanieW (66)
• Indonesia
9 Mar 08
I always check the expired date everytime i buy food, not necessary can food, but also other stuff.
Sometimes i noticed some store acctualy still have goods which is already expired in the racks.. That's why we as a consumer have to be really careful and alert when we buy stuf, specially food.
I think store must warned about it, if we find they sell expired food.
@youless (112204)
• Guangzhou, China
11 Mar 08
Most of the time, I won't check the expiration date of the grocery goods that I am going to buy. As usually I buy them in a good and large supermarket. I regard it to provide the good quality products. So I am not worried about whether the goods is expired or not. Because they should be still in the valid date.
1 person likes this
@johndur (3052)
• Pasig, Philippines
10 Mar 08
yes,i always see to it that what i buy is safe and worth the price i have bought...as you can see,most canned goods in the groceries and supermarket stays there for quite sometime and sometimes they forgot to check the expiration date of their the products they are selling unless someone reports it to them,so i think it is better for us consumers to check first what we are buying to avoid the harm it may cause us by neglecting the check the expiry date of the products we buy...
1 person likes this
@bluebutterfly1234 (92)
• United States
10 Mar 08
I do check I used to work in a grocery store and one of my jobs each week was to check the dates and could not believe each week how much stuff we had out of date or close to the date. we would mark down stuff half if it was close and pull and destory if it was out of date.
@jhoannejoj (963)
• Philippines
11 Mar 08
Yes i do.. Not only on the canned goods but almost to all the grocery I buy. Its better to be careful since every penny we pay should be of equal to the quality of what we should get from the product. I am so specific with the expiration of the products. If a good is nearly on its expiration date, i check if i could consume it very soon and if it is discounted or not. Just like yesterday, on my way home from school I shopped for meat. I bought a meat discounted 50% since its expiration would be today. I did not hesitate since my plan was to cook it for dinner. Wise way of shopping, isnt it?
1 person likes this
@cefaz_21 (2596)
• Philippines
10 Mar 08
Good thing you noticed that..I'm sure they knew it but ignored it purposely, as you have said one look at the cans and you know it's already expired.
I always checked my purchases too. Whatever it is specially if it's something to eat. It's better be safe tha sorry..right?
1 person likes this
@aseretdd (13730)
• Philippines
10 Mar 08
I have developed this habit of checking the expiration date of canned goods and all the food that i buy for my baby... it is illegal to sell expired goods... but there are supermaket owners who break this law... they intentionally put the expired goods with the those that are not... in the hopes that an innocent buyer will not notice...
I saw a feature about this in one tv show... and the store was eventually close by the DTI...
1 person likes this
@dolce_vita78 (8062)
• Philippines
10 Mar 08
Everytime I shop for groceries, I make it a point to always check for the expiration date. It pays off to be very careful when it comes to this. We can't just sacrifice our health.
It is important that the store manager makes sure that what they are selling are not yet out of date.
1 person likes this
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
10 Mar 08
Out of habit I always check the expiration date on my food when shopping. The expiration date on the cans are not really the last date that the food can be eaten safely though. Expiration dates on canned goods are not required. If kept in a cool dark place most canned goods (with the exception of those containing dairy) are good for up to 10 years. As long as the can is not rusted or dented or bulging the food should be fine.
1 person likes this
@Mamagee (392)
• Malaysia
10 Mar 08
Yes, I always check the expiration date before i buy can/bottle foods. Anyway I tried to avoid from buying can foods. I like cooking fresh foods for my family. I take can foods if i'm too busy to cook. But still i have to make sure the food has not expired. If that happened in the groceries shops, we have our right to make a complain.
1 person likes this
@skbh12 (2946)
• Philippines
10 Mar 08
whenever i buy food at the grocery store i also look at the expiry date for me to avoid getting disappointed at the same time preventing us from being poisoned. hehe..
@mycharm88 (2288)
• Philippines
16 Mar 08
Hello dear!!Oh yes, i do that everytime,specially for goods that we take in. we were a victim of that, selling goods on sale (very low price) my mom wasn't really aware maybe because the expiration date was hardly seen. When she got home and tried to open one of the canned goods, it was spoiled... she returned the goods and the owner apologized too and returned the money back. From that day on my mom learned her lesson. To check expiry dates. Sometimes it's better to buy goods with high quality even at a higher price, than those on sale and we are not sure about the quality of that certain goods. 