Now, my highly suspicious mind believes the smell is a marketing strategy, however, it could also be a coincidence, yeah,,,, nah.
I have noticed with a few dairy items I have been buying, the “best before date” is on parts of the packaging which are thrown away or easily removed. If you don’t know what the BBD is, chances are you’ll throw it out before it is time to do so, and you will be buying it again, most probably the same product, but sooner than you would ordinarily do so, therefore the companies are making more money. Dairy products last longer than you think and they sometimes look a bit dodgy before they actually are and you are inclined to ditch it before you really have to. Take sour cream for example, it always looks a bit creepy with the water component separating, but it is still perfectly fine. A recent purchase of sour cream, the BBD was printed on the flimsy plastic lid, which broke and I threw out, so after the first use I put it back in the fridge for the next time I have some sneaky Mexican, but when I was having my “fridge scan and throw out before rubbish pick up day”, I noticed it didn’t have a BBD on the container, so to be safe, I threw it out, half used.
My usual yoghurt has had a packaging overhaul recently, they now print the label on a fancy new “peel and reveal” one, which has a kids colouring in picture, fun facts and surprises, true, on the back. They even have FB & Instagram accounts where you can share, genius! I don’t even have kids and the first time I got caught out was from my own curiosity. The entire label peels off and leaves a naked container, disgraceful. It says “peel and reveal”, I couldn’t help myself, like bubble wrap, it is just asking to be “popped”, annoyed, I put the container back in the fridge, you guessed it, bin night there was still a small amount in there,,,,,knowing full well that it was most probably alright, but as there was no BBD to confirm, I threw it out. You guessed it, bought some more next shop!
The crumbled feta, yeah, I’m lazy, whatevs, this stuff lasts FOREVER! But they have just started putting the BBD on the rip off part that you have to snap off to open, it even says to TEAR OFF and presumably ditch it, sneaky! No chance of this going past it’s BBD at my house as it regularly makes an appearance on my weekend breakfasts, so with this I know I’m good.
So irritating, so to get my own back and not be duped anymore, I am onto them! Good ol’ sharpie on the remaining, unmovable, non-tearing, non-splitting packaging left, sorts it out.
I hate waste, but, I have had food poisoning a few times, through no fault of my own, and I remember the misery oh so well, so I always err on the side of caution when it comes to food hygiene. With such busy lives we all lead, you NEVER remember when you bought things let alone how long it’s going to last for. So once again, smells like fish to me!
