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Date marking is now required on most pre-packed foods (with a few exceptions, such as frozen foods, wine and vinegar) unless they have a shelf-life of at least 18 months. Even products with a very long shelf-life may be marked, but this is not mandatory. This is expressed as either:

• A best before date (day, month, year) plus storage conditions (if necessary).

Or:

• If the food has a ‘life’ of between 3 months and 19 months, a best before end date (month, year).

• If the food has a ‘life’ of between 6 weeks and 3 months, a best before date (day, month) plus storage conditions (if necessary).

• If the food is perishable and is intended for consumption within 6 weeks of being packed, a sell by date (day, month) plus storage conditions and a storage period after purchase.

There is no reason why you should not buy overdue products, especially if they are reduced in price, because the onus is on the shopkeeper to provide goods which live up to the quality of their description, in other words they must not be bad or ‘off’. With the longer time datings you are safe in buying goods that are near the end of their expiry date if the shop is clean and well maintained. However if such a product has deteriorated, even if bought at a special price, your legal rights are not affected and you should complain first of all to the shop manager then, if no satisfaction is obtained, to your local Trading Standards Officer, whom you can locate through the Town Hall. It is often preferable, though, to write a nice letter, fully documented, with a sample, to the Managing Director of the company concerned who will often, for the sake of goodwill (and most of the food companies are very jealous of their good reputation), refund your cost and may even give you something extra besides. However, if you are on the make, beware, because most manufacturers keep very accurate records of complainants and get wise to the person who frequently finds a dead mouse in a meat pie.

Foods for special nutritional purposes are subject to the provisions of an EEC Directive which strictly controls all claims and declarations in respec of infant, diabetic, slimming and other foods which purport to be for a group of people with special nutritional needs. There is a problem in that some excellent foods which have a nutritional purpose may not, in the future, be able to declare it without a Medicines Licence! For example, a bran based breakfast cereal may not be able to say that it ‘helps constipation’, but it can say ‘helps to keep you regular’ as that is not a medical claim. Too often we are seeing legislation which is designed for consumer protection which effectively shields the consumer from the information needed to make an informed decision. It should surely be sufficient with regard to most claims that labels and advertising are decent, honest and truthful.