Ex-Trader Joe president plans to open grocery store selling 'expired' food
Would you buy “expired” food? Doug Rauch, an ex-president of Trader Joe’s, is hoping you will with his new store, The Daily Table, launching next year in Dorchester, Boston.
He plans to help with food waste by using groceries close to their expiry date or slightly past and transforming them into healthy meals, such as soup, salad and casseroles. The store will also have a teaching kitchen to teach people how to create easy, healthy meals. They will also sell milk that’s past it’s expired sell date for $1 a gallon, according to the Boston Globe.
“The number-one leading problem is affordable nutrition,” Rauch told the Boston Globe. “For the 50 million Americans who are food insecure, their solution is not a full stomach. It’s a healthy meal.”
Rauch will test the concept in Dorchester and see if there’s a possibility to expanding the idea across the country.
Canadians are well fed compared to other countries, but unfortunately a study pegged our wasted food at $27 billion a year. About 51 per cent of this wasted food ends up in trash bins. Some of the reasons for this behaviour include low cost to households when food is wasted and confusion over sell-by dates.
In 2007, only spent 17 per cent of Canadians’ personal expenses went towards food, according to Statistics Canada. It just goes to show you that since we don’t spend much on it, we think it’s OK to waste it. Of all the food we buy, we only actually consume 71 per cent of the calories bought, according to Statistics Canada.
A recent Harvard study says that food expiration dates are misleading. "The labeling system is aimed at helping consumers understand freshness, but it fails - they think it's about safety," co-author Emily Broad Lieb told Reuters.
Next time, save money on your groceries, waste less food and don’t be afraid to keep eating some food past its labelled date. Websites like StillTasty and EatbyDate can help you figure out whether you should keep it or toss it.
Do you always throw out your food when it’s past the labelled date?
Josephine Lim, MSN Money
Posted by: Donna | Sep 28, 2021 3:16:32 PM
"Best before" is not the same as "Expired". Milk is a good example. I have used milk that was still good as much as a week after the "best before" date. If it smells ok and tastes ok, why throw it out? Most of us seniors can't afford to be wasteful on our pensions. Let common sense prevail!
Posted by: Roy Marvelous | Sep 28, 2021 4:44:46 PM
No way. I always make a judgement call. Most things can last much past it's Best Before date.
Posted by: Dave | Sep 28, 2021 6:43:08 PM
Expired mlk will sell in Canada because its still good, but in the USA expired milk is sour. Don't know why but thats the way it is. personal experience.
Posted by: daveA | Sep 28, 2021 10:08:54 PM
Finally someone (Emily Broad Lieb) is saying something about expiry dates that make sense. How stupid can people be if they think that things that were OK yesterday are not OK today. These dates don't mean the food is no longer good to use, just that they were made or packaged before the same product beside it on the shelf. Of course that doesn't mean that one would eat meat etc. that is a month out of date, but canned goods and other things like this are still good many months after their "best before" dates. It just takes a bit of common sense.
Posted by: Laszlo Varga | Sep 28, 2021 10:56:49 PM
I am glad to found this article.My wife is very sensitive of"Expired Date or best before ".She believes it is not good after a date on it.I look,and smell or taste a food then I decide if it is good or not.Most meat changes its color when it is bad.Cold cuts might be bad without changing its color.I have to taste them before I consume it. Fresh pork last longer than Beef or poultry.Cheese when molded it is still good just have to cut of mold.Apple is the worth when start to rotten because rottenness taste spreads all over a seemingly good part of the apple. Other fruits do not have this kind of taste. regards to all.