Food that goes bad before its best by date

[Nikia]

First it was a deli taco pizza, which I opened on its best by date to find black mold. The next day, I opened a bag of salad with a best by date of three days later. Most of it was brown.
I work in the food manufacturing industry. Our product is good for a significant amount of time after its best by day. What's up with stuff going bad before that? I don't get it. Our refrigerator should be cold enough.
I guess that I'll have to use fresh stuff within a day or so and not buy for days in advance regardless of the best by date.

[Mutley]

i hate it when milk goes bad before it's best by date

ugh... and just the thought of bad milk makes me wanna :puke:

[trotsky]

1. Opening and closing your refrigerator.

I remember being surprised by just how much the temp can fluctuate in a fridge.

[flamingyouth]

2. My salad greens never keep until their sell-by date

Then again, I'm very picky about not having any brown spots on my lettuce. But more often than not, I throw out part of the bag... :(

[NYC]

3. Milk date was changed from 4 days to 9 days

about 10 years ago in New York State. I have no idea what's going on with it now.

Milk kept above 50 degrees will expire very soon thereafter. I used to watch the Food Emporium near the U.N. get a delivery of milk, and leave it on the sidewalk for half an hour in the 90 degree heat. It really didn't matter what the legitimate expiration date was. This milk was doomed.

[skygazer]

4. A lot of that has to do with the length of time

It's out of cold storage. I used to work produce and if you break the cold cycle on something, especially something delicate like salad, it decreases its life significantly. If you hit the produce department first, fill your cart, spend an hour in the store, stop for gas on the way home and have a 20 minute drive, you've lost some time in that cold cycle. If you put off unloading or getting it in the frig, that takes time away as well. No doubt the dating reflects some of that - I'm sure they consider that factor when dating it but there's the time in the store as well - our loads used to come in at night and sometimes the salads were on top of a pallet of melons or something that didn't get put in the cold box. That's several hours at room temp before we got to work and put it in the cooler.

Bottom line - it's a hassle and a bother but the store should give you a refund or replacement on it.

[Gelliebeans]

5. I myself

had a string of products recently go bad before their due date. I know it wasn't the temperature in the refrigerator as I checked that first.

So I decided to contact all these companies and told them I expected a refund, since I didn't have the receipts I listed the UPC code on the products themselves. I just researched each company and emailed them my complaint within a couple of weeks I got manufacturers coupons for free products and an apology. The dole people which make the lettuce in the bag were the first to respond.

If they get enough complaints maybe they will have to take a closer look at the shipping practices or whatever.