Past their shelf life

Pushpa Girimaji

I usually order my grocery online and have it home-delivered. This time, on checking the delivery, I was shocked to find that several packets of flavoured yogurt and a packet of plain yogurt (dahi) were all past the ‘best before’ date. When I complained, the grocer argued that there was nothing illegal about selling food well beyond the ‘best before’ date, so long as it was safe. Is he right? 

Obviously, the grocer is trying to exploit the convoluted and ambiguous definition of “Best before” under the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Regulations. If you see the definition, it says: “Best before means the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the food shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made and beyond that date, the food may still be perfectly safe to consume, though its quality may have diminished. However, the food shall not be sold if at any stage the product becomes unsafe” 

In other words, the law does not prohibit the sale of food beyond the ‘best-before’ date, so long as it is ‘safe’. However, the question that arises is, how will the grocer ensure that it is safe, without opening it? What if the yogurt that he has sent is spoilt? Besides, the manufacturer has not determined the period within which the food remains safe even after the ‘best-before date’. So on what basis can a retailer claim that the food is safe beyond the best before date? 

There’s another point here. If you look at the definition carefully, it says that the product is “fully marketable” by best-before date, which means that it is not “fully marketable” after that date. Again, if you examine the definition, it says that after the ‘best-before’ date, the food may remain perfectly safe, but it may not retain certain specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made; its quality may have diminished. So if you look at the definition of ‘defect’ under the Consumer Protection, such foods that do not match the claims of the manufacturer, are considered ‘defective’. Selling such a product can also become an unfair trade practice. So all said and done, despite the ambiguity in the food safety law, selling a product beyond the best-before date violates the rights of consumers and the retailer had better not sell them. 

Is it not necessary to change the law in such a case?

Yes, certainly, In fact sometime ago, the President of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commisison, Justice D.K.Jain had raised this issue and said the ‘best-before’ dates on food labels were confusing as these did not specify the date up to which such food was safe for consumption. This issue was also subsequently raised by a member of Parliament, Dr Ratna De (unstarred question), to which all that the government said was that “ It is the responsibility of the Food Business Operator to ensure that unsafe food articles, including food articles rendered unsafe after expiry of their ‘best-before’ dates are not sold to consumers”. 

It’s time the government tweaked the food safety regulation to remove the ambiguity in the definition. While doing so, they must also ensure that the consumer’s right to information, informed choice and safe goods are protected. And here I particularly refer to the way the information on the shelf life of food products is provided on food packages.

First and foremost, each manufacturer has his own way of printing the date of manufacture or packaging. Some may print it, some may emboss it, some may give it at the bottom, yet others on top, but most give the information in such a way that it is not easy to find or read or decipher. Secondly, for this information to be useful, the package should give below the date of manufacture, the best-before date. But most don’t do that and instead declare that it is best before six months or three months or fifteen days from the date of manufacture or packaging, leaving it to the consumer to calculate the best-before date. And even this information is not printed below the date of packaging, but is hidden somewhere else on the package, so only those who can read English and those who are really determined to find that information, will be able to get to know the best-before date. It’s time the food regulator paid attention to these issues affecting consumer rights.