Expiry Date Of Local Foods In Trinidad and Tobago

[LadyDeath]

An Expiry Date/ Shelf Life can be defined as :

1. The date past which a product, such as food or medicine, must be sold or removed from availability because it is no longer expected to be fresh or effective.
2. The date on which something, such as a warranty or license, is no longer valid or in effect.
3. The length of time that a commodity may be stored without becoming unfit for use or consumption. It applies to foods, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, chemicals, and many other perishable items. In some regions, an advisory best before, mandatory use by, or freshness date is required on packaged perishable foods.

All items fitting these description should have
1. Manufacture date
2. Expiration date
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In Trinidad and Tobago there is an increase in the manufacturing of local goods which is very good for our economy to have these products locally. However, local does not mean fresh. I have been sampling local goods such as pepper sauce , punches, coconut water , oil etc. and have realised that ALMOST ALL of the local products does not have an expiration date on them.

This supposed to be mandatory by our food and drug association. A product cannot sell if it does not contain an expiration date . How would people know when a drink for example, has been expired and not to buy and consume it ?


Take this coconut water i bought for example. It had no expiration date nowhere on the bottle ! It only said to consume 2 days after opening . When was it manufactured ? When will it expire?

 

[Shadowhunter]

I have purchased spoiled local drinks already, that is frustrating! You have no way of knowing until you open it and realize your money was wasted.

Even for internationally packaged goods, with the expiry date and so on printed, it is still sold at regular price as many people do not check the expiry date to know any better. A grocery worker once told me that the grocery puts expired products on sale or on specials like "buy one get one free" etc. so people will buy it out and only after it is bought out will they replace the stocks. I've been to groceries that sell products that are expiring or have already expired with no warning and many consumers are unaware. You may hear someone complain after their purchase that it tastes funny or cold or stale. Many times it's the expiry date, but other times, it is old stock packed down in warehouses etc and may taste odd even if it isn't expired.

Things like local eggs etc do not have expiry dates and you really have to know who you're buying from, local or not. I've also purchased expired medication as well.

 

[nirtime]

I typically do not buy things without expiry dates on them. I think it is ridiculous to say the very Least.

Price Smart once sold out expired Budweiser csses of beer for cheap. They put it up on the shelf normally with a normal price, no sale or anything. Only aftrr purchase is it clear that the beer is expired. By a month already.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Can't these places be held accountable for that in some way? It seems anywhere you can purchase something, you run the risk of purchasing expired goods. I was told pharmacies in the health facilities give out expired medication as well.

 

[grimreaper009]

Some things have a plus or minus on the self like so even tho it has a expiration date...It may still be good for a few months

 

[Shadowhunter]

Some things have a plus or minus on the self like so even tho it has a expiration date...It may still be good for a few months

Depends on what it is. I've heard that canned foods are not supposed to have a limited shelf life because it's preserved and the expiry date is just to encourage consumers to buy more but I'm not gonna try it out myself LOL

 

[nirtime]

Some things have a plus or minus on the self like so even tho it has a expiration date...It may still be good for a few months

Either way a big business not supposed to buy and stock an item because its expired.

 

[grimreaper009]

they bought them good and some expired due to the large amounts of stock......

 

[nirtime]

they bought them good and some expired due to the large amounts of stock......

They brought all as expired because when it first appeared on shelves we bought a case and that was expired as well.

 

[grimreaper009]

a big company lol I feel is stock that was moved from one warehouse to the other...but you could be correct although it's rare for a company to bulk purchase expired stuff

 

[Shadowhunter]

a big company lol I feel is stock that was moved from one warehouse to the other...but you could be correct although it's rare for a company to bulk purchase expired stuff

I wouldn't be surprised if they did, most people wouldn't think to check labels etc before purchasing items and can get catch easy that way.

 

[nirtime]

I wouldn't be surprised if they did, most people wouldn't think to check labels etc before purchasing items and can get catch easy that way.

That is pretty much how it went. Pretty much all of it sold out and almost none of the buyers realised it was expired stuff.

 

[LadyDeath]

Bought a $30 dollar bottle of olive oil that was supposed to be $130.

When i watched the expiry date it is for the 30th May this month. I still bought it hoping to use it out before the expiry date. We have to be very skeptical about low price food items.

Please keep in mind the damaged goods that are selling off cheap as well. In the US damaged food goods are a health risk but here in Trini , people still put them on the shelves or made available for people to buy

 

[Shadowhunter]

It's good that you got a discount on the item, as not everywhere does this. Some places sell their items as regular stock when it is expiring or already expired as the example nirtime gave us. Is there no way to report these things anywhere?

 

[Shadowhunter]

Just to add, if you take Bobbie as change or buy them individually, at least 1 in 10 will be bad. Last time I got three bad ones.