Health Inspector Question...Expired Foods At A Restaurant?

Question

Okay well today I went to Krystal's and they gave us expired sauce that has been expired for more than 3 months. Since 1/31/2008. So wondering if anyone knew a health inspector. If the address is...1916 E Fletcher Ave Tampa, FL 33612

the phone number is...813-631-1995

Anybody please help.

Expired food was...Buffalo Sauce.

The lady said all of them are the same. They were very rude to us.They didn't give us our money back either.

Answer 1

i am a store manager of a restaurant, and as far as i know that all restaurant must have their own complaint book..u should ask them for that and feel free to write every errors they have.that is a very serious problem coz all sauces might contain bacteria when its expired bacillus cereous i think is the name  and that might lead to death

Answer 2

I AM NOT A HEALTH INSPECTOR, BUT I SELL FOOD TO RESTAURANTS FOR A LIVING.  THERE ARE SEVERAL QUESTIONS THAT ONE MUST ASK WHEN IT COMES TO EXPIRATION DATES.  ARE YOU SURE THAT IT WAS AN EXPIRATION DATE?  SOME SAUCE PACKAGES HAVE A "BORN ON" DATE, SO ONE HAS TO REALLY READ THE LABEL.  IF THEY ARE A RESTAURANT THAT IS, TRADITIONALLY VERY BUSY, I DOUBT THAT THE SAUCE WAS EXPIRED.  IF THEY DON'T HAVE MUCH BUSINESS, THEN IT COULD HAVE VERY WELL HAVE BEEN EXPIRED.

IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION AND THE WAITSTAFF NOR THE MANAGER DOES NOT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION TO YOUR SATISFACTION, DO NOT USE THE PRODUCT.  CALL YOUR LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT AND REPORT THIS INCIDENT.  

ONE COULD RELATE THEIR RUDENESS TO THEIR "GUILT" AND THE PRODUCT SIMPLY BEING BAD.  BUT THIS IS A SEVERELY POOR BUSINESS PRACTICE.  IF SOMEONE WERE TO FALL ILL FROM BAD PRODUCT, IT COULD SHUT THEM DOWN.  IT WAS TERRIBLY IGNORANT FOR THEM TO NOT SATISFY THEIR CUSTOMER.

BOTTOM LINE?  DON'T EVER GO THERE AGAIN AND BE VOCAL TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY AS TO WHY.  WHEN THEY LOSE BUSINESS AND CLOSE, YOU WILL HAVE HAD SOME SATISFACTION THAT YOU WERE AVENGED.

BON APPETITE!

Answer 3

It wasn't right of them to be rude, but it was probably a "best by" date, not an expiration date. besides, those sealed sauces last practically forever. being sealed, there's nothing to break down those sauces and they are usually loaded with preservatives that will keep them good for years. In addition, most of the time those expiration dates are dates that the particular restaurant imposes to ensure the food tastes ideal. For example, at McDonalds, french fries expire  7 minutes after cooking according to their corporate office, although the government says its fine to serve it up to an hour later. Obviously, you wouldn't want french fries that were cooked an hour ago, but they are still healthy to eat. The same principle probably applies to these sauce packets.

In fact, the FDA says that labelling food with expiration dates is optional. According to them,

"Coded expiration dates on foods are generally used to protect a company against liability related to product quality, which is not necessarily related to product safety. This is different than the expiration dates on drugs, where there are many issues of safety and potency. In foods it is not as critical an issue from the viewpoint of safety. For example, milk held past the expiration date may be clotted and smell, but it is almost certainly safe - just as yogurt and buttermilk is. A canned biscuit past its expiration date may explode out of the package and smell of alcohol, but it could be cooked and eaten with no ill effects. We cannot think of an instance where the code date on a food product is really a safety date."

In other words, you're not going to get sick from a sauce that is 3 months past expiration and you're not going to get them "shut down" for violating health codes because.........they're aren't any codes regarding food expiration since it is OPTIONAL to even put expiration dates on food in the first place.