Consumer Finds Out Chicken Is Past Use-By Date At Food Lover’s Market In Hillfox . However, when the man was preparing the poultry for his family lunch on Sunday, he realise that the use-by-date of the chicken was two days earlier than the time he used it.
A man by the name of Tony Botes reportedly bought chicken from the Food Lover’s Market on Saturday. However, when the man was preparing the poultry for his family lunch on Sunday, he realise that the use-by-date of the chicken was two days earlier than the time he used it. The man says the original label was covered by another label.
Tony Botes says, “Shocked to see that there was one (the original) label stating “Packed on 2019/10/03, Use by2019/10/10”, but that was covered by another label on the wrapping which stated “Packed on 07.10.19”. The man questioned as to whether he could go back there, believing in the supermarkets honesty and integrity, he also not that these type of action might be illegal. “this is disgraceful and quite possibly illegal! Can we ever again go there believing in the honesty and integrity of this national food outlet in future,” says Tony Botes.
Interfering with dates is deemed as unlawful. South Africa’s food-labelling regulations have also deemed it unlawful to sell expiry food items beyond their use-by dates due to the linked health disadvantages. Mirella Gastalsi, the Food Lover’s Market group legal consultant, confirms that the man was sold a chicken was two days beyond its use-by date. The legal consultant has also stated that the one on the stores label refuted the original one that was set by their supplier. Mirella Gastalsi blamed poor stock rotation for the issue “as opposed to any tampering with the date marks on the product, or an intention to extend the shelf life of the product.”
The legal adviser says the label was not put on top of the supplier one in order to hide it. “Once the product is received at store level, our merchandising team prints a scale label reflecting the price of the product and the packed date. This scale label – which does not and cannot reflect a use-by date- is then applied to the product just below the supplier’s white rectangular label. This is a control mechanism to prevent a use-by date that exceeds the supplier’s use-by date being applied to such a product at store level,” says the legal consultant.
She went on to say that this may be because of a system error that averts the store merchandisers from putting the supplier’s packed date. Mirell Gastalsi says, “We acknowledge that the packed date reflected on our scale label did not accord with the supplier’s packed date. We have determined that this is due to a system error that prevents store merchandisers from inputting the supplier’s packed date…when a store merchandiser prints a scale label , the packed date automatically defaults to the date the scale label is printed.”
by Alexandra Ramaite
