KEY POINTS:
Andrea Woodall has never bought an expired product. The sales and marketing consultant says she "always" checks the dates.
But does she know the difference between "use by" and "best before"?
"I didn't realise there was a difference, I couldn't tell you," said the Auckland mother of 5-year-old Olivia, as the pair shopped at New World's Victoria Park store.
Andrea wasn't the only one. Nine out of 10 shoppers quizzed at the supermarket on Thursday didn't know "use by" related to food safety and "best before" referred only to quality.
And most were unaware vendors were legally allowed to sell food past its best-before date.
It's no wonder they're confused. Consumers have four date marks to decipher - use by, best before, packed on and packed for - and the dates can vary for similar kinds of product.
The Herald on Sunday bought three brands of preserved fruit salad at random on the same day.
The best- before date on Trident diced peaches in syrup was Oct 19, 2008, Goulbourn Valley diced fruit salad said best before Feb 7, 2009 and SPC pears set in raspberry jelly had no date mark at all.
SPC said that as a longlife product no date mark was required, although the quoted shelf life was an ambiguous "two to four years".
Given the confusion, it's not surprising few complaints are reported.
The Auckland Regional Public Health Service polices labelling standards for the New Zealand Food Safety Authority and received only about 40 complaints last year.
"A lot of the time, consumers don't understand what a date mark actually means," said Auckland public health chief medical officer Greg Simmons.
"Many people would not know who to complain to. Some think food safety authority, some think councils."
Complaining is no guarantee of action although traders selling unsafe and "off" products can be hit with a hefty fine or jail time.
But Simmons said the public health service didn't have the resources to enforce the law effectively and there hadn't been a single prosecution. "Labelling is an issue that has fallen off the radar, we just don't have the capacity to go around checking shops. If we had the resources, we would certainly do that."
Simmons said the case of a Papatoetoe trader caught selling peanuts four months after their best-before date highlighted the need for change.
The vendor got away with a written warning and would not be publicly identified, despite old peanuts growing an invisible cancer-causing mould called aflatoxin.
"Peanuts should really have a use- by date," Simmons said. "I am sure there are plenty of illegal labels that don't come to our attention."
Other horror stories from the Auckland region over the past four months include a trader using expired products to make foods, a shop selling "off" salami and staff changing expiry dates on pre-cooked sausages.
Authority spokesman Gary Bowering said proposals due to go before Parliament this year would require the food service industry and all retailers to implement food control plans.
Businesses would have to maintain records showing food hygiene, stock rotation and food labelling procedures were upheld. Traders not "up to scratch" would attract further inspections and audits, at their own cost.
"Manufacturers tend to take these things seriously and play by the rules," Bowering said. "The problems occur at the retail level, where, unknowingly, or in some cases knowingly, expired products are sold."
Green Party food safety spokeswoman, and campaigner for better food labelling, Sue Kedgley, said a system that relied on the consumer to complain was "absurd" and "completely ineffective". "There is no way of guaranteeing public safety by relying on consumers to make complaints," she said. "It takes an unusually motivated person to make the time to do that."
She said most manufacturers and vendors were responsible but no one was doing random checks. "We need more of a regulatory underpinning and more independent monitoring."
EATING BEFORE AND AFTER
Food safe to eat after the best-before date includes yoghurt, bread, tinned food (which doesn't have a date mark), and packaged red meat.
There are other items that should not be eaten after the use-by date.
Some of the most dangerous are soft cheeses, packaged ham, fresh pasteurised milk and ready-to-eat salads containing mayonnaise or egg.
Manufacturers told the Herald on Sunday scientific stability testing was carried out on food products.
This allowed them to set a date mark that meant products could be guaranteed to be of top quality, and safe to eat, when consumed before that date and when storage instructions were followed.
Fonterra said it conducted "sensory tests" for flavour, as well as other tests that determined the length of time before milk products began to deteriorate. Fresh milk had a shelf life of 12-15 days, "well before it deteriorates", quality assurance manager Linda Hayhow said.
New Zealand Food Safety Authority microbiologist Roger Cook said you could even eat mouldy bread or packaged meat past its best-before date without getting sick 90 per cent of the time.
"You're likely to feel sick once you see the mould though."
He said most disease-causing micro-organisms did not grow in fridges but listeria could. Ham and soft cheeses were particularly dangerous, especially for young, old, pregnant and immune-deficient people.
Other dangerous packaged foods included seafood and ready-made salads, especially those with egg or mayonnaise.
Tinned food rarely featured an expiry date, and products with a shelf life of more than two years did not require a date mark. Heinz Watties said its tinned products had a shelf life of "at least two years" from the date of manufacture, and probably longer.
But the company still advised people to use up tinned food in the pantry to "overcome any problems of poor storage", and to throw any swollen or warped tins.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS
Food products with a shelf life of less than two years are required to have date marks by Food Standards Australia New Zealand's food standards code.
The New Zealand Food Safety Authority recommends food is consumed before the date mark expires to ensure safety and quality.
The use-by date: Indicates when food should be consumed by for health reasons. Food cannot be legally sold beyond its use by date.
The best-before date: Indicates when food should be consumed by to ensure it remains at premium quality. Food can be sold beyond its best before date provided it is still fit for consumption.
The baked-on date: Relates to bread with a shelf life of less than seven days and refers to the date it was baked.
The baked-for date: Relates to bread with a shelf life of less than seven days and refers to a date no later than 12 hours after the bread was baked.
Date marks aren't confined to food and drink. Cosmetics, sunscreen and medicines also feature use-by or expiry dates. Sunscreen companies said their products had expiry dates and lasted up to five years. After that, the protection claimed on the pack could not be relied on, and the lotion could start to break down.
A L'Oreal spokeswoman said safety was of the upmost concern and cosmetics packaging came with use by guidelines.
"Common sense should prevail however," she said. "Any changes in smell, colour or texture of the product would be a good indication the product should not be used."
