For your own protection ... watch those date stamps

Press, 28 August 1980, Page 7

For your own protection ... watch those date stamps

While more and more products are being stamped with “packed on” and “eat by” dates, shoppers still need to keep their eyes open. This was shown by a small date-stamping survey made by “The Press” on smallgoods, yoghurt and eggs in 10 Christchurch supermarkets this week.

Smallgoods showed most discrepancies. Many packets of skinless and ordinary 7 sausages, saveloys and chipolatas were less than a week from their minimum durability date;

One row containing four packets of Hutton’s skinless sausages varied from 10 days to one month past their “eat by’ dates in a north Christchurch supermarket.'

When the sausages were pointed out to the buyer in the supermarket’s delicatessen, she said that there had been a lot of reorganising and

she had not had time to check the shelves. Anyway, Hutton’s repre* sentatives were responsible for the rotation of products and restocking, she said. If anyone bought the old goods by mistake their money would be refunded or a credit given when the product was returned.

Mr Dick Gammon, a spokesman from Hutton’s Hutton’s Christchurch plant superintendent, said that some delivery operators did look after the shelves but that even the sales people should check their stock. Any that went beyond the minimum durability date were dumped, although often still edible. If no air was in the packet, the goods could still be eaten two or three weeks after their “eat by” date had passed. Trying to find the “eat by” date on some brands of yoghurt was difficult as stamping was hard to see on the coloured pottle

tops. Close scrutiny of the tops ‘showed that some pottles were just on or just past their “eat by” date. The clearest stamps were on the Swiss Maid pottles. Eggs came out sunnyside up. Recently, the marketing manager of the Poultry Board’s Egg Marketing Authority (Mr R. Allan) said that Christchurch .people were supplied with regular stocks of fresh eggs. A check was made round the supermarkets to see if this was-so. No . eggs less than two weeks before their “eat by” date were found. The minimum durability date is set’at 16 days from the packing date for Hutton’s skinless’ sausages and saveloys, and is set at 13 days from the packing date for Hutton’s ordinary sausages and chipolatas. The minimum durability date after packing is up to four weeks for yoghurt and 21 days for eggs.