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Trader Joe's Ex-President To Turn Expired Food Into Cheap Meals
- eyeareque 13y agoIt is great to see an entrepreneur tackling an issue that will benefit the world (in a huge way) vs tackling an issue that will make someone build wealth for themselves.
- billybob255 13y agoNot to downplay the good work he's doing, but both of those things (selling expired food and giving it away) are both pretty common. There are discount stores who specialize in expired food.
- fragsworth 13y agoYeah, it's nothing too novel. It sounds to me like he wants to take over a chunk of that market, by providing a large-scale solution that competes with all the small vendors. This article is mostly a promotional piece.
- pbreit 13y agoThe novel part is that a business person with prior success on a large scale is doing it. Hardly anything is actually novel.
- marincounty 13y agoI had a crazy friend who ate for years out of Trader Joe's garbage cans. One day a cops were called. After, that he still went back, but a lock was put on the garbage.
- graue 13y agoThere's nothing crazy about that. I've known lots of people who dumpster-dive. A college roommate of mine lived on nothing but free and dumpster-dived food for several months when he was broke. Even when he had money he liked to do it and would bring back vegetables to share. One time we feasted for weeks on a huge grocery bag full of (normally expensive) avocados, eating around the bad spots... at least ¾ of it was good. If you think it's crazy, I'm gonna guess your broke college-kid days (if you had them) are long behind you. :)
- rdtsc 13y agoBut I guess dumpster is still in private property and owners can still kick anyone out of the dumpster area for trespassing. Cops could be called for that instead of say for "theft"
- smsm42 13y agoI can understand why they put the lock though. If he eats something and goes ill and then hires a lawyer, the lawyer would be in the position to claim millions in damages from TJ because they did not ensure hazardous waste products weren't "laying around on the street instead of being properly stored". Given that lawsuits with much less merit succeeded, who needs those problems?
- anigbrowl 13y agoI think it was more to discourage people from digging through and maybe leaving a mess (not necessarily the person in the story). It's true that there have been cases where someone is successfully sued in this manner; the source of the danger (which could be food or a uncovered hole in the ground that someone falls into) is known as an 'attractive nuisance', ie something dangerous that is also irresistible. However, that's usually only successful in cases where children or animals are drawn towards the attractive nuisance because they lack better judgment. It would be hard for an adult to persuade a jury that he couldn't anticipate the risks of eating food from a garbage can. IANAL, didn't do a review of AN cases, TINLA.
- Erwin 13y agoDumpster diving for food has apparently become a whole ideology now, Freeganism: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeganism In their own words: "[Freegans] embrace community, generosity, social concern, freedom, cooperation, and sharing in opposition to a society based on materialism, moral apathy, competition, conformity, and greed."
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- kunai 13y agoIt's not really "expired" food. The sell-by date is just an indicator of when the item begins to go slightly stale. In the case of foodstuffs like fruit and milk, there are expiry dates and it's best NOT to eat past that expiry date.
- dchest 13y agoExpired milk can be used to make pancakes! See also http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/dont-be-so-quick-to-throw-out-expired-milk.htm http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/dont-be-so-quick-to-throw-o...
- smsm42 13y agoI've always wondered where the products go when they are past their expiry date. They don't suddenly go bad at the second expiry date passes... Are they just thrown out? Sold to discount stores? Sent to local homeless shelter? It it legal to give expired products to anyone? Does it expose one to liability?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- keithpeter 13y ago'Sell by' dates are earlier than when fresh produce can be expected to become bad. Cooks can examine the fresh produce and decide if they should cook it or not. Tinned or dry goods might be harder to judge. I imagine the liability drops down to the person preparing food in a shelter or soup kitchen. UK: many shops sell off food at half or third price when it hits sell-by. They put it in bins/special fridge areas and they have yellow 'BUY NOW' stickers on, and some products have a warning like 'use today'. I know of cafes that give away their expired sandwiches on the day and hour of expiry. So when given away, it was fine.
- jjoe 13y agoWith the exception of infant formula, the laws that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) administers do not preclude the sale of food that is past the expiration date indicated on the label. FDA does not require food firms to place "expired by", "use by" or "best before" dates on food products. This information is entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer. A principle of U.S. food law is that foods in U.S. commerce must be wholesome and fit for consumption. A "best by", "use by" or expiration date does not relieve a firm from this obligation. A product that is dangerous to consumers would be subject to potential action by FDA to remove it from commerce regardless of any date printed on a label. Source: http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/transparency/basics/ucm210073.htm http://www.fda.gov/aboutfda/transparency/basics/ucm210073.ht...
- stephengillie 13y agoThis is news to me. Having worked for Safeway for many years, we held to those dates religiously.
- MichaelApproved 13y agoIt's like that was because it wouldn't be good to have customers see "expired" food on your shelves. As a customer, I wouldn't buy food which has gone past the expiration date. Sure, it could be fine to consume but I'd rather purchase food on that's well ahead of the expiration date. Especially since I may not cook/eat the food until a day or so later.
- r0h1n 13y agoThey usually are all over the world. But some interesting economics starts becoming apparent when packaged food products approach the last 1/3rd or 1/4th of their shelf life. For e.g. - near-expiry food products being exported from developed countries to developing ones (where they still command a premium over local products). I've found entire shelves of imported food products just months away from expiry (out of a total shelf life of, say, 2 years) - re-badging of expiry dates/lots by unscrupulous importers - 2 for 1 offers in supermarkets to liquidate near-expiry stock
- makomk 13y ago
- detrino 13y agoI worked at TJ's as a teenager and they gave away the expired bread to a homeless shelter.
- briannickel 13y agoI've definitely seen distinctly TJ products at food banks. Meat, canned goods, etc.
- _lex 13y agoI HATE this. I previously shopped at Trader Joe's with confidence - I knew I wasn't being gouged on price, so I generally ignored prices. I knew the food was good, so I could turn my brain off and just buy whatever I fancied. However, maybe 7 months ago, I started to notice that I was buying expired or nearly expired things from Trader Joes - bread that would go bad the next day (got mouldy), cheese with mold, etc. It was super irritating, and I would never remember to return those things so I'd wind up eating the cost. I eventually realized that for perishable goods, they put the new stuff in the back of the shelves, so now I just head for the back of the shelf when I need to buy perishables there. This sucks for me, since buying at TJs used to be a stress-free experience, and now I check the 'use-by' dates on everything. I actually flirted with shopping at Walmart (the one on San Antonio), but even though the prices are lower, the checkout lines are crazy at peak times, which is when I shop. I also checked out Safeway, but they do a pricing technique that I call "Price Warfare". They randomly advertise products on heavy discount, and get you to incorporate those products as defaults in your shopping habits, then they switch their discounts to other products. This means that I've wound up paying $7 for basic icecream (which usually costs around $3:50). They also like to prominently display expensive items and hide their cheaper substitutes. This is most visible in their produce section - if you go in looking for grapes and without your senses about you, you'll pick up organic grapes by default. It also means that shopping at Safeway is mentally exhausting, since I've got to recalculate the 'best' prices on everything I buy every time I go there - so I avoid it now. <end rant>
- backprojection 13y agoI generally agree with you - shopping at TJs is a fairly low-BS experience. But I feel that putting less fresh stuff in front is just common sense - its just a a FIFO buffer.
- _lex 13y agoI'd agree with you, if the buffer had a sensible cutoff. The cutoff is currently "tomorrow" - so you'll buy stuff who's useby date is before you've even opened it. Sucks.
- pedalpete 13y agoI think what most of the comments here seem to be missing is that (what I think is being said) he is takin on the fast food market in under-privileged areas where finding healthy food is a challenge. I think this is the case because the interview says they will cook the food for the patrons, and that he'll be serving the inner city areas not currently served. Many of the people living in the area dine on fast food because it is incredibly cheap. "Real" food a"can't compete at this price. However, maybe post sell by date foods can. The challenge is likely to be one of marketing, as it won't be difficult for the fast food chains to label the newcomer as selling rotten food.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- S_A_P 13y agoI'm reminded of an experience I had at a deli. I ordered matzo ball soup. The cup of soup I got had an expiry tag from 2 weeks prior in it. I still ate it. I lived. I can't say that I was happy about it though.
- ck2 13y agoHow is this a "good thing" ? Take something they rightfully have to give away and instead make profit from it. I already see grocers giving out tons of food to the local food bank, if they can convince governments to let them profit from it, that is one more path against poverty taken away by corporate entities. Another way to eliminate waste would be to price the product lower? If a regional grocery throws away tons of bananas each week, why not make the bananas half the price and run out of bananas each week?
- digitalboss 13y agoBtw - you mention grocers giving tons of food, is actually not true. It's a very slow process, taking a way too long to become a popular trend. Hopefully with this latest story and initiative that other large/med/small grocers jump on board. The poor/needy in the US are eating fast food more and more, as they can't afford groceries, with high costs for meat, vegetables and milk all rising. I'm excited to see how this program is launched and copied.
- ck2 13y agoFast food is not a matter of being cheaper than groceries, it is a matter of no grocery stores in walking distance of the poor, but the 7/11 or McDonalds is. Fast food is far more expensive than groceries. I haven't eaten at a fast food place (or any other restaurant for that matter) in a couple of decades.
- makomk 13y agoAlso, not everyone has properly-equipped kitchens or the time to cook, and in fact there are some assholes who think anyone who does have basic kitchen equipment shouldn't be allowed to call themselves poor. (Remember that infamous Fox News slide implying most "poor" people weren't because they had fridges? Which is, really, fairly fundamental to being able to cook for yourself.)
- septerr 13y agoI have always felt bad about fresh produce going to waste in my fridge.Between my buying the produce and it going bad, there is always a point where I know I am not going to be able to use this stuff and in 2-3 days it will be unusable. I have looked for services in my area where I could take these items to. Something like soup kitchens who can then incorporate them into their cooking. But all the organizations I found took only canned goods and prepared food from large scale organizations like restaurants. I had even thought it would be a great program for a charity register homes that are willing to give away soon-to-go-bad food. Then have volunteers stop by these homes on a predetermined schedule (once a week or so) to stop by and collect anything that the home might want to donate.
- bsullivan01 13y agoThis will go on until an adorable child dies and everyone--even the aunt that has never seen the child--sues
- avty 13y agoSoylent Green will help more.