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WHAT DO SUPERMARKETS DO WITH EXPIRED FOOD?
In the United States, there are large supermarket chains with an impressive variety of products for all tastes and from different parts of the world to serve their national and foreign customers. What happens when these products are not sold in their entirety and expire?
The great variety of migrants in the country forces to have a varied offer. In the establishments, you can see very well-stocked shelves. If you go to the tomato sauce or white sauce area, for example, you can see that there are many brands and they even have an international section just for those products. Not to mention the variety of canned products, soft drinks, snacks, and sweets.
The products, however, do not have the same sales performance, so sometimes they expire and must be removed from the shelves or freezers. Therefore, the question arises, what do supermarkets do with expired products?
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These are some of the things grocery stores do:
- They sell the products to other stores: There are foods that, although the preferred consumption date has ended, can still be consumed. For example, certain canned foods and pasta. In some grocery stores or food banks, it is possible to find products at a low cost.
- They donate them: Supermarket chains can donate near-expiration or expired but still safe-to-eat edible products to food banks or charitable organizations.
- They end up in the trash: Although most of the food is still technically edible, most large supermarket chains severely limit the amount of food that is donated once they can no longer sell it. "This is fear of litigation due to deficient or vague laws and regulations," shares Jeff Campbell in The Grocery Store Guy.