Bay shops caught selling expired food

An undercover sting has caught Western Bay of Plenty food providers selling expired food.
This week, the Bay of Plenty Times visited  12 dairies, convenience stores and supermarkets to expose which outlets were prepared to sell expired goods.
Seven of 12 outlets visited sold food that had exceeded their best-before dates.
The food outlets  were Summit Superette, Bureta Super Discounter, Cherrywood Four Square, Brookfield Four Square, Greerton Four Square, Gate Pa Superette, Hot Spot Superette, New World Mount Maunganui, Countdown Cameron Rd, Foodtown Cameron Rd, Woolworths Papamoa and Woolworths @ Gull Hewletts Rd.

Those who sold the Bay of Plenty Times items past their best-before date had mixed responses to our findings.
A spokesperson at Summit Superette, who later hung up on us, initially defended his store.
He then denied allegations we had found sour cream and about seven Country Goodness dips past their best-before date.
The man said at busy times they may have "accidentally" left items in the fridge that shouldn't be in there but as soon as those items were noticed, they were quickly removed.
At Bureta Super Discounter, the Bay of Plenty Times purchased Continental wholegrain pasta - best before  February 19.
Owner of Bureta Super Discounter, Balvier Singh, said the shop underwent a stocktake twice a year but were too busy to check the items between stocktakes.
"There are so many items here that we can't check every item because it takes a long time."
Mr Singh said when customers go to the counter, staff try to check the items. However sometimes things "slip through".
A number of store owners were very apologetic in response to the Bay of Plenty Times findings.

The newspaper visited Greerton Four Square and purchased Pam's salsa - best before  December 15, 2009.
 Store owner Anita Lal, said: "It's really not good, and we try to be meticulous with that sort of thing".
The store replaces products every week, and Mrs Lal admitted the salsa possibly wasn't rotated and "could have been missed".
At Gate Pa Superette, the Bay of Plenty Times purchased Meadow Fresh yoghurt - best before March 23 - a month after its best-before date.
Superette owner Vish Mudaliar said items in the shop were checked twice a week and "unfortunately, the boys must have overlooked it".
Mr Mudaliar employs two teenagers to check the items on Wednesday and Sunday.
He said the boys would be spoken to about checking the items more carefully.
"We always try to maintain a high standard and customer service is the main thing, so this is quite disappointing," said Mr Mudaliar.
Both Mr Mudaliar and Mrs Lal said their stores would supply a full refund and product replacements for any expired goods sold.

Elizabeth Higgs, general manager marketing and communication, representing Progressive Enterprise stores (Woolworths Papamoa, Countdown Cameron Rd, and Foodtown Cameron Rd) said Progressive's policy was to ensure no expired stock was on supermarket shelves at any time.

At Woolworths, the newspaper purchased organic tofu - best before April 14.
At Countdown, the newspaper purchased Fritos chips - best before February 28, and at Foodtown, the newspaper purchased Giannis Pita Bread - best before April 28.
Mrs Higgs said all Progressive stores held daily checks and stock rotation, however if a customer purchased an expired product, there was a "fresh or free, refund and replace policy" in place.
Consumer NZ technical writer Libby Manley said it was a reasonable expectation that if customers were paying money for their food, they were getting good value and good products.
She said there were two labels consumers needed to look out for when purchasing food items.
The first was the use-by date, and the second was the best-before date.
It was illegal for retailers to sell food after its use-by date, and retailers had the right to return the item and request either a refund or replacement of the product purchased.
Rules weren't as tight for best-before dates, she said.
"It is okay for a retailer to keep selling an item after its best-before date, as long as its stored properly. Depending on the item, it may have lost quality and nutritional value though."
Ms Manley said it was a good idea for consumers to keep an eye out for use-by dates and always pick the freshest product where possible.
 Choosing to purchase foods where there was a high turnover was always a good idea.
Bay of Plenty medical officer of health Phil Shoemack said purchasing items that had passed their best-before or use-by dates may not be as nutritious or wholesome.
Margaret Brooker, senior manager of labelling at the New Zealand Food Safety Authority, agreed that consumers should always check the dates on food and use their own judgements as to what the quality may be.
Food was required to be date marked by law under the Australia/New Zealand Food Standards Code.
However, dates became meaningless unless food was stored properly, she said.
Ms Brooker said any store that sold food past its use-by date to someone who then got sick, would be considered for prosecution.