Since you mentioned these are major chains, I for one would like to know their names. Granted, expiration dates are important, but so is knowing which stores are a bit loose in this practice. Please disclose.

I will name a chain. Here it's Albertson's Market. We have two in town, one is pretty good. The other, well, I do check everything I pick up there. I will also never buy meat there again. Unfortunately, the bad one is walking distance but I do pass the good one on the way home from work.

My sister never checks expiration dates, but if I happen to go shopping with her, I will check what she puts in her cart and put it back if it has an expired date. She does not like for me to go shopping with her because it takes longer. I check all dates when I shop, even if they are difficult to find, and if I cannot find a date, I will ask a store employee to find it for me.

The last time I bought some Vital Wheat Gluten, I found a package with an expiration date that was a month old (at Bristol Farms), and the package was already swollen, and so I took it to the checker to let her know, but I found another package with an expiration date 18 months in the future and bought that. The checker seemed very grateful that I brought the expired merchandise to her attention. That store has people who go through and remove items with expired dates, but I guess they did not check the flour section well enough. I store a lot of flour in the freezer.

If an item has more than one ingredient, I read the ingredient list as well. I am not a speed shopper.

I thought canned goods don't expire as long as the can/jar is not compromised in any way.

I always look, and it’s rare to find something expired but now that you mention it in the past year or so I’ve had a few times where I’ve found expired items. And I’m not talking canned goods which, as writersblock says, are really “best by” dates but things like packaged sausages and sour cream. Not enough to where I can say it’s intentional, but it does surprise me when it happens.

We always check. Dh will even dig deeper on a shelf to make sure he's getting the best date.

Our Albertson's is bad about selling yogurt with a near expiration date.

Bought a package of Kikkoman panko just before Thanksgiving. As soon as I opened the package I could tell it was rancid. The date was June 2019 so it should have been fine. That's the second time I've had the same issue with Kikkoman. I'm switching to DeLallo.

Yes...unfortunately...they do it on purpose. They have a $$$ investment in that particular merchandise and if it hasn't sold and it expires...if they pull it off the shelf...they lose money. They're hoping it will sell before anyone reports the item. In most States it's against the law to stock and sell outdated edible merchandise. When I found it in a store that I frequented before I retired to the graces of a personal shopper...I reported the item[s] to the store manager and all the outdated stock was pulled off the shelves before they were caught by a State inspector. If they'd been caught stocking and selling expired goods, they would have been fined.

All stores usually have designated employees who do nothing more than "pulling forward" all the stock on the store shelves on a daily/weekly basis. Older dated merchandise is supposed to be pulled to the front of the shelf and newer dated merchandise stocked behind the older dated product. If you have trouble finding a particularly desirable item that you, personally, want to buy for your larder...and the store shelf is empty where it used to be....chances are that it didn't sell as well as the store hoped it would and they've not reordered it. Some stores are very accommodating and they will order the item just for you. Other stores are not so gracious.

In some cases the expiration date may not be tight but if stores aren't careful...some older merchandise may have been recalled by the manufacturer and they're unwittingly still selling it. That's one of the major reasons it's against the law to shelve and sell outdated products. It pays to look!

The stores as mentioned in my original post are Kroger, Albertsons, and Tom Thumb, all of which I believe are owned under the Kroger banner. I note again that these are the three LOCAL stores that are closest to me and thus most frequently where I shop. That does not imply that ALL stores going under the same name are necessarily guilty of the same issue.

With thousands of individual products stocked in any one grocery store, I still firmly believe that the management of any one offending store is to blame if more than the occasional one-off outdated product is found. As I noted originally, three local stores all owned or at least managed by the same company at the top but with three totally different individual management cultures and practices internally is not going to help solve the issue.

Some time ago I purchased half and half as I often do, and opening it up, poured to find it was green and chunky. I almost lost my lunch from the smell. I now check expiration dates on everything. Can't believe how often the dairy items are still on the shelves here far past the Sell By dates. Food City in the South East. We've got Kroger, but their produce section is unappealing here.

Albertson's merged with Safeway. Separate company from Kroger. Albertson's parent company do operate Tom Thumb.

I doubt selling merchandise after it's sell by/best by/expiration is corporate policy, but there may be goals and incentives that give managers a reason to try to sell the stuff to unwitting patrons.

If you have a modern receipt that lists the item, it should be easy to pack up your outdated merchandise and bring it back to the manager for a refund.

Even if you don't have a receipt, they'll probably refund you once as a courtesy.

Trader Joe's is notorious around here for having merchandise that's closely dated, and is actually moldy or rotting before the sell by date. They're very good, however, about refunds. That is, easy to deal with. nice, no fuss.

I've had the opposite experience with Trader Joe's. Over here, they go through inventory so quickly that it does not have time to go out of date - at least for what I buy. Their eggs always have the furthest date of any store I go to. I mostly buy nuts and protein powders there now, but I have also bought yogurt and some cheese. I think they do not package their cheese well, which is why it can get mold on it, even before the expiration date. I repackage cheese I buy there - wrap it in new cellophane and vacuum seal it.

Lars, it's not the date with TJ's. It's that the merchandise is more likely to be bad before the date than from other stores. They push the decided upon best by date to the edge. I agree about the cheese, and always repackage it, but I've had that happen with all kinds of things. As I said, they're very good about refunds.

Around here most of the major stores are good about the package dates, though one can always get lost and remain past its date. The smaller one-offs and specialty markets might not be so vigilant.

I worked with Spec Ed students job training at a local high end grocery store, and yes, the oldest product is brought to the front in order to get it sold rather than chuck it!

So, if you want the freshest milk, look at the ones towards the back and check the dates! They load from the back of the case!

OTOH, we don't buy milk from our local Grocery Outlet. Even if the dates are good, they seem to go bad! By law, their milk cases have to be maintained at the proper temp, so I'm not quite so sure why it goes bad! (our fridge is at the right temp!)

The most useful that I learned in Marketing 101 was what nancyjane_gardener said: older products are moved to the front, fresher items in the back. I am a fiend for reaching in the back for items and checking dates. I sometimes get a side-eye from the staff, but I don't care.

I'm less inclined to worry about expiration dates. I think sellers have gone to the other extreme and add those so that you'll buy more things, that is, they probably don't go bad (canned is a good example. I agree if it's in good shape, shouldn't it be ok?). Marketing ploy. Sometimes. Not meat, dairy or produce.

Without fail. And i always reach as deep as possible in search of remoter dates. I stacked supermarket shelves for a couple hours in my remote youth. Prior to that i always grabbed whatever was on first row.

Lars, similar scenario at our TJ's. The only issue I've seen is what you mentioned with the cheese. Other than that, I think TJ's is a great store!

We finally got our TJs back 13 months after our fires! Had to travel several miles to the nearest one for all that time!

Like Rob, I tend to not be as excited about sell by dates, especially when dealing with canned goods. I know that it's not, by and large, a safety issue, it's a quality issue, with quality declining after a period of time. I know that mustard won't be dangerous if it's a month outdated and I recently opened a can of evaporated milk with a "best by" date of July, 2018, and used it in a batch of fudge. Smelled fine, tasted fine, worked fine. Fudge was promptly consumed by the grandkids, LOL.

Dairy products like milk and sour cream I'm more careful with, because I don't use them quickly and so I want them to last as long as possible. Other things, like that flavored coffee creamer my Mother loves? I think it lasts nearly forever, as it's nothing but chemicals.

My local stores are good about pulling old products, and when they are nearing expiration you'll find them in the "clearance" section, so you can buy them or not, your choice.

That's what those labels and dates are for, so you can determine whether you wish to buy them. I certainly do not expect any large corporations to be acting with my best interests in mind, and it's not the responsibility of small local businesses either. I am a label reader, as I'm watching for gluten-containing ingredients, chemical additives, GMO products, even country of origin. The lowest price isn't always the choice I go with, although it's where I start.

I do have the privilege of producing my own beef, chickens, eggs, many fruits and vegetables. I make many of my own condiments, from pickles to plum sauce. I buy organic, non-GMO wheat and grind flour, I make my own yogurt from milk sourced from a local organic dairy. Those things do take more time and effort than just picking up a container of yogurt or a loaf of Wonder bread, but it's something that matters to me. I've done it since my girls were small, when I was working full time, when I was a single mother, so it's second nature.

I try to be realistic. I know the government isn't going to protect me, that big corporations are primarily worried about their financial bottom line, and that agribusiness doesn't care how much something must be sprayed or poisoned as long as they produce a profitable crop. As a result, I read the labels.

Annie