Would you use a restaurant serving food past its sell by date?

[SerenityNigh]

Nice website too; very informative.

 

[noharmdone]

I wont eat anything in my fridge that's out of date.. so I certainly wouldn't eat out of date stuff from a restaurant !

 

[Hellerad]

This is a monster law suit waiting to happen.

It is a nice idea but I cant see it working.

If they are advertising themselves as a company that does this, any consumer would have a reasonable expectation that they are consuming food prepared from ingredients which are past the sell by date. That reasonable expectation should protect the restaurant from any lawsuit based on the expiration of a sell by date. The restaurant would of course remain open to lawsuits if they knew or should have known that a specific ingredient was dangerous and used it anyway or failed to prepare food to an industry standard.

And all restaurants are open to those lawsuits, so there I don't see much of an added risk.

Just my two cents.

 

[SerenityNigh]

If they are advertising themselves as a company that does this, any consumer would have a reasonable expectation that they are consuming food prepared from ingredients which are past the sell by date. That reasonable expectation should protect the restaurant from any lawsuit based on the expiration of a sell by date. The restaurant would of course remain open to lawsuits if they knew or should have known that a specific ingredient was dangerous and used it anyway or failed to prepare food to an industry standard.

And all restaurants are open to those lawsuits, so there I don't see much of an added risk.

Just my two cents.

I do not represent myself as a lawyer in my country, your country, according to maritime law, nor even on Easter Island. Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to me that any and every restaurant represents itself as selling a good that is safe to consume. Any restaurant that sells a good found to be unsafe to consume may find itself liable for damages. I'm not sure it gets more complicated than that.

(In summary, I agree with Hellerad)

 

[Zed Car]

Which begs the question.

Expiry date on sour cream - how does that work?

 

[Hellerad]

I do not represent myself as a lawyer in my country, your country, according to maritime law, nor even on Easter Island. Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to me that any and every restaurant represents itself as selling a good that is safe to consume. Any restaurant that sells a good found to be unsafe to consume may find itself liable for damages. I'm not sure it gets more complicated than that.

(In summary, I agree with Hellerad)

Yep. This is why most restaurants will generally include a warning re: allergens (peanuts, gluten, etc.) or the dangers of undercooked foods (steak, eggs, etc.).

But as to using "past sell by date" ingredients, I believe that is only an additional risk of litigation if that fact is hidden from consumers despite a knowledge that it is inherently more dangerous to prepare food with "past sell by date" ingredients.

Anyway. We're sort of on topic, but I think its a good idea.

I also like that some restaurants donate leftovers to the homeless. Many restaurants have policies requiring leftovers to be trashed to avoid the risk of lawsuit for improperly handled foodstuffs. Starbucks, for example, has a strict policy that all leftovers have to be trashed and cannot be donated to shelters.

I think that is a sad example of the legal world I which I practice.

 

[Hellerad]

Which begs the question.

Expiry date on sour cream - how does that work?

Haha, interesting question. I did some research.

The spoilage of dairy products (even Pasteurized) is caused by the breakdown of enzymes. Even refrigeration cannot stop it.

Sour cream is "soured" by specific bacteria, which is a different process.

So the breakdown of enzymes in sour cream can still cause it to become bad, even though that's sort of the point of sour cream

Think of it as spoiling the wrong way.

 

[WA Toffee]

Which begs the question.

Expiry date on sour cream - how does that work?

Different bacteria. One bacteria is used to sour the cream, however pathogenic bacteria may still grow. If those pathogenic bacteria grow to sufficient levels, then food poisoning will follow.

And food companies don't just whack any old use by date on their products, what they do is make an initial batch under manufacturing conditions, then take samples at specific time intervals and count the amount of bacteria which has grown. When those levels reach an amount sufficient to cause food poisoning, then that is the use by date.

 

[WA Toffee]

Haha, interesting question. I did some research.

The spoilage of dairy products (even Pasteurized) is caused by the breakdown of enzymes. Even refrigeration cannot stop it.

Sour cream is "soured" by specific bacteria, which is a different process.

So the breakdown of enzymes in sour cream can still cause it to become bad, even though that's sort of the point of sour cream

Think of it as spoiling the wrong way.

Food spoilage is quite different from food poisoning. Not sure of the regulations in the UK, but in Australia, any food which will spoil has a "best before" date, any food which can support food poisoning bacteria growth has a "Use by" date. It is legal to sell food after the best before, but illegal to sell after a use by.

Oh, and you can't tell if a product will make you sick by smelling it, any food which smells off will usually either have enzymatic breakdown or growth of spoilage bacteria, not food poisoning bacteria.

 

[magicjuan]

There has to be some sort of disclaimer involved, at customers own risk etc
I know if food is safe or not, big difference taking a chance for myself and feeding 400 people with my fingers crossed

 

[degsy]

Depends what I was wanting. A steak, not a problem. Seafood, not a chance.

This pretty much...

The common sense option.

The sell by date is not the same as the used by date or the best before
Three confusing 'labels' above

The whole labelling thing needs a rethink /standardisation.