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doreen T
Fri, Dec-01-00, 15:43
from CBC's Marketplace, Best Before Dates
Air Date: Nov. 21, 2000
Producer: Richard Wright
Researcher: Laura Boast

You can't trust 'best before' dates on some foods in Canadian stores.

A Marketplace investigation has revealed date tampering at North America's largest distributor of Italian foods, Santa Maria Foods. Products made or imported by the company - including Mastro meats and olive oil, DeCecco pasta, and Galbani Marscapone cheese - are sold at Sobey's, Loblaws and Dominion, among other chains.
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A false sense of security?

Many shoppers rely on the 'best before' date displayed on all foods. It's an assurance of freshness and quality. For some perishable items - like cheese - the 'best before' date may even relate to safety.

But the 'best before' dates on some products you find in your favourite grocery store are useless.

Marketplace spoke with nearly a dozen people, including former employees of Santa Maria Foods, two Italian manufacturers and Canadian retailers who sell Santa Maria's products across the country.

Two former employees agreed to appear on camera for this story. They insisted that their identities be disguised. They told us that there are hundreds of thousands of dollars at stake - and they're afraid of reprisals for speaking out. They also believe consumers need to hear what they have to say.

"I saw mortadella that had expired, the cryovacs being ripped off and the product being washed," one of the former employees told Marketplace. "It's a cooked product and what happens with cooked meats is a white slime forms on the outside of the meat and it can be washed off and then recryovacked and shipped out to consumers."

"In the case of pastas," the former employee continued, "DeCecco pasta...had a date stamped on the bottom of the box in black ink. Of course they couldn't get the black ink out of the cardboard, so they'd take Liquid Paper, cover it up and put a computer-generated sticker over the top...and ship it to the customer."

Company's products across the country

Santa Maria is a big company with offices and warehouses in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. It specializes in Italian food products and manufactures its own house brands, under the Mastro name. The company also imports products like coffee, pasta and mascarpone cheese, mainly from Italy. Products with a shelf-life of 90 days or less, like some cheeses, must have a 'best before' date. Pasta, oil and coffee don't need one. But if they do carry a 'best before' date, it cannot be changed.

Santa Maria's clients include small specialty stores and major grocery chains. The company products are also used by caterers and in restaurants.

"With the mascarpone cheese," a second former employee told Marketplace, "it comes from Italy with a date stamp on it. What has been done is a chemical...has been used to wipe off the date and thereafter they stick on a 'best before'...date afterwards in paper."

The former employee described similar practices for pasta and olive oil.

Checking the products

We heard the same story from several former Santa Maria employees. Still, we wanted to check the story for ourselves. We picked one product - mascarpone cheese - to investigate. We tracked it from the factory in Italy, to the retail shelf in Canada.

First, we called the manufacturer, Galbani, in Milan. They confirmed that every tub of Galbani mascarpone cheese that leaves their plant has a 'best before' date ink jet stamped on the bottom of the tub.

Next, we went shopping at small stores and some big chains in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. For a full year - and as recently as the middle of November - we went looking for samples of the product that no longer had the ink jet stamp.

We found numerous tubs of mascarpone that had been tampered with bearing Santa Maria labels. The ink jet dates were wiped off and new 'best before' date stickers were put in place.

It is not illegal to sell a product after its 'best before' date. It is illegal to change the date the manufacturer puts on the package.
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The article has been snipped. Please click on the link below to read the entire piece.
http://cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/food/bestbefore/index.html

tamarian
Fri, Dec-01-00, 21:20
Originally posted by doreen T

"I saw mortadella that had expired, the cryovacs being ripped off and the product being washed," one of the former employees told Marketplace. "It's a cooked product and what happens with cooked meats is a white slime forms on the outside of the meat and it can be washed off and then recryovacked and shipped out to consumers."


White slime! This is scary!

Wa'il