Unscrupulous retailers are taking advantage of the fact that it is not illegal to remove a product that is past its 'best before' date Many consumers don't fully get the difference between a 'best before' and a 'sell-by' or 'use-by' date — they just resist buying anything beyond its "expiry date".While it's not illegal to keep a product on the shelf beyond its "best before" date, few consumers would knowingly pay full price for "old" food.To get around this, some retailers, or their misguided employees, remove or fake the date marks on their products.I've investigated cases of dates being crudely cut off a food pack or blacked out with marker pen, wiped away completely with solvent, or hidden with a newprice sticker, bearing new dates to give the false impression that the food has yet to reach its "expiry" date.It happens in small grocery stores and spaza shops in rural areas as well as at big-name national chains in cities, and it is not only illegal, immoral and an appalling brea...
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