Out-of-date beer hard to swallow

Jun 17 2009 by Richard Mooney, Wishaw Press

WISHAW’S Tesco supermarket is under scrutiny this week – after a North Lanarkshire Council inspector found 13 bottled beers past their best-before-date there.

The inspection followed a complaint by a customer who had bought beverages six months past the advised date of use.

Simon O’Neill (28), paid full price for a bottle of Black Isle Organic beer from the supermarket on May 15, only to discover that it was almost eight months past the best-before-date. Last Christmas the Jaguar Landrover engineer bought a bottle of organic beer only to find later that its best-before-date had been up in March.

He alerted NLC to the problem and they sent an officer into the store last week to investigate. The officer discovered 13 bottles of beer exceeded their best-before-date.

Gordon Cunningham, business regulations manager with NLC, said: “As soon as the store manager was informed of the situation, the shelf was inspected and the affected stock removed from sale.”

A Tesco spokesperson said: "We have robust procedures in place to prevent this from happening and we are currently investigating this."

Last week, however, a Wishaw Press reporter bought two bottles of the Black Isle Beers at the full price of £2.13 and both were three months past the best-before-date.

Gordon Cunningham explained that while it is not illegal to sell alcohol past the best before date, it is not considered “good practice”.

Although he was offered a refund by the store, Simon O’Neill now wants an apology from Britain’s biggest supermarket and is “really angry” at their lack of correspondence followng his complaints.

He added: “I’ll never shop there again.”