Loblaws throwing out good food!!

[couponmummy]

Just got back from Loblaws. There is a box full of NoName pecan pieces bags in liquidation area and lady asked guy how much it is. Guy scans and its around $7. He looks at expiry date and all of them is near end of April. Sorry, we can't sell. Lady says reduce it and I will buy. Sorry, we can't sell, we have to throw them away. Can you give them away for free? Sorry, no.

I wish I have the guts to dumpster dive at Loblaws, LOL.

[Jnazurk]

That's sad! And I'm sure there is tons more that we never see that gets pitched.

[saveadollardiva]

^I understand they have they have to throw it out because of expiry date, if they didn't people would complain. BUT I think they should have an area were they say that it is reduced due to expiry so people can then make the judgement call as to buying it or not. I hate when food that is still good goes to waste! Not just because people can buy it, but also because there are so many people out there in the world hungry with no money to buy food! They should at least donate it to a shelter and see if it can be used.

[Jnazurk]

I watched (I don't know the name of the show, but it was something along the lines of Cheapskates or the Cheapest People on America-it's on TLC). Anyway, there is American "store" that takes expired food and sells it for bargain prices. Interesting to watch.

[greencanuck]

If you saw the amount of waste ( food and other items) that happens at most store, you would almost never believe it.
When I worked retail, I went to extreme efforts to change procedure so that far less went into landfill.
There are many factors about why this happens, but the waste loads of perfectly good stuff is immense.

[couponmummy]

I saw that show. I would buy expired stuff at reduced prices but won't buy expired cheese and make pizza for the kids that she was babysitting.

[couponmummy]

I know a lot of restaurants will through out good food and not give them away, otherwise there will be a whole slew of hobos outside and it's not good for business.

[Natalka]

Good for them, in a way, for being careful about expiry dates! There are often threads on here about people who purchase items without checking the expiry dates, then complain because something is wrong with the items.

Yes, of course, there is waste from stores - but they have rules for health and safety reasons.

[QueenH]

The stores used to donate day old breads to the Food bank but then people would bring back items for a refund saying they just bought the items. People went too far and spoiled it for everyone. They had good intentions, but with so many regulations and rules they have to watch out for complaints. Its such a shame and such a bad waste. I mean their bakeries alone throw away products that are still good for a week but protocol is protocol and they are not big on change. Sadly its about the bottom line.
I mean if they had a method of scanning out what they donated to the Food bank then if someone tried to return it for a credit it would come up once scanned as that item and problem solved but no they would rather abandon the whole plan.

[couponmummy]

This is what I read a while back that there are some stores that will sell expired lunch meat and cheese. They cut off the moldy part, repackage it and then sell them again. Vomitrocious.

[sharkie]

that is such a waste of food

[FallenPixels]

Unfortunately, since people will sue them if they get sick from eating it, I completely agree with them doing it.
The same as food banks wont take it because they would be responsible for giving the expired food to a person etc

[saveadollardiva]

I saw that episode and I wouldn't go that far lol. Like common? Expired cheese? Like i think it was like a month old. That is pushing it

[torontogal12]

They throw stuff out to avoid lawsuits. My friend used to work at a cafeteria. Big company you would recognize. She gave all the leftover food one night to homeless people. Managers found out and she got fired.

They told her that if one of those people got sick they could sue the company, so the company would rather throw the food away then deal with that.

Some places do donate their food to Second Harvest. Great charity. Google it.

[bekki3]

There was another show on tv that had people going through garbage in New York City for food. I think they called it 'Freeganism'. It was really interesting to watch what they found in the grocery stores' garbage bags and how much is still very edible. Such a wasteful society we live in!