Western Pa. school union wins 'right' to eat expired food

markomalley · #1 Jun 12, '12, 2:36 am

From the AP:

Unionized cafeteria workers in one western Pennsylvania school district have won the right to eat expired food for free - at their own risk.

The Herald of Sharon, Pa., reports Monday that the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed a grievance against the Sharpsville Area School District last year after school officials ``violated established past practice'' by no longer allowing workers to eat the expired food for free.

Eating expired food...I guess that is a major union victory...

Workers must pay for unexpired food they eat.

Shocking...

Andinell · #2 Jun 12, '12, 3:46 am

Having worked in food service myself, and in school cafeterias, I can tell you that it is all too common for something to be "expired" according to the date stamp on something without the food having gone bad.

It seems an awful waste for food that isn't bad to go into the trash when people are hungry.

kmuestwin · #3 Jun 12, '12, 5:09 am

If its out of date they can't feed it to children. I think it's a good policy to allow people to eat what they can to reduce waste.

I imagine that this system gets abused and some people damage food "accidentally on purpose" but overall, it's a good thing.

lerapt78 · #4 Jun 12, '12, 5:19 am

All laughs about what benefits are covered by union fees aside, I agree they should be allowed to eat expired food instead of letting it go to waste. Of course, as long as they make due on their promises not to sue if they get sick.

Sometimes the extent to which the government tries to protect people from themselves is ridiculous.

Trader · #5 Jun 12, '12, 8:53 am

Expiration dates are established with a good margin of safety. You may have noticed that just about every grocery item in the store now has an expiration date also. Manufacturers would like nothing better than to have you throw out a can of soup and buy a new one.

Even Coke and Pepsi have expiration dates, but they are not health issues. Diet Coke will lose its sweetness and taste bad when the artificial sweetener degrades back into two amino acids, but it won't hurt you (unless you have PKU, but if you have that you should not be drinking the stuff anyway). Regular Coke gradually loses its fizz, but flat cola won't hurt you either.

At most, grocery expiration dates are about quality, not safety. I am not talking about the fresh chicken that got lost in the back of the fridge two weeks ago and now smells bad. When in doubt, throw it out.

Daizies · #6 Jun 12, '12, 11:40 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andinell

Having worked in food service myself, and in school cafeterias, I can tell you that it is all too common for something to be "expired" according to the date stamp on something without the food having gone bad.

It seems an awful waste for food that isn't bad to go into the trash when people are hungry.

And too, if it's anything like in the grocery stores I've worked in, food is discarded BEFORE the printed expiration date - from 2-5 days depending on the item. It's all perfectly good, but no one will buy it. Don't most of us reach to the back of the cooler to get the jug of milk with the best date?
I say, let the workers eat it. Too much food gets wasted as it is.

TEPO · #7 Jun 13, '12, 9:38 pm

I wonder how the school district found out they were eating the expired food in the first place.
Someone must have been so worried about them that they just had to say something...

Before it was too late.! God forbid someone could have gotten a tummy ache.

lerapt78 · #8 Jun 13, '12, 9:39 pm

^^^ Yes.

Also, as a side issue, I remember when I used to work in a restaurant a long time ago I would get upset at the amount of food that was thrown out every night. When I asked the manager why the restaurant didn't make arrangements to have a homeless shelter pick up leftover food that hadn't been served to customers, they told me it was too risky - that they didn't want to risk someone at a homeless shelter getting sick and suing them.

Seemed ridiculous at the time - if they weren't worried about their own customers getting sick, why the homeless be a concern??? I can only hypothesize they may not have trusted that the shelter would have refrigerated properly or served the food in a timely manner.