Starting February 1st, expired products will be automatically blocked at checkout.
Photo: Evgenia GUSEVA
Very timely news. At the beginning of January I bought butter in a store near my house. Oops, stale. I looked at the label – last year! The expiration date is December 30. The store apologized and returned the money. They shrugged: we don’t know, they say, how they missed the expired products on the shelf.
This could not have happened if the experiment to introduce a system that excludes the possibility of selling expired products had started, for example, a month or two ago or even earlier. The problem is pressing.
VIOLATIONS IN EVERY SECOND STORE
– If we take the results of inspections of retail chains, the sale of expired products is included annually among the top 3 violations, – said Oleg Pavlov, president of the public organization for the protection of consumer rights “Public Consumer Initiative “, deputy chairman of the public council under Rospotrebnadzor. – Our own research, which we carry out, even for the largest chains, shows that every other store (regardless of the brand) always has a delay.
Why it happens? The expert identifies two reasons. The first is that retail chains do not have special equipment or software that allows automatic detection of delays. And there are not enough human resources, or they do not want to spend the strength of the store staff to carefully check the products on the shelves. The second is dishonesty. When the delay is deliberately left on the shelf, so as not to throw it away and not lose money.
However, starting February 1, 2023, excuses will no longer work. Within six months (until August 1, 2023), by decision of the Russian government, expired products, as well as illegally put into circulation tobacco and nicotine products, will be automatically blocked at the checkout. More details in the “Specific” section.
THE CASHIER WILL RECEIVE A NOTICE
This is all wonderful, but why are they only talking about blocking now?
– Because at the moment there is a technical possibility, thanks to the introduction of digital marking “Honest Sign”, – says Oleg Pavlov.
How will the mechanism work? Information about each instance, for example, dairy products (it is subject to mandatory labeling, – Ed.), is contained in the database (including the expiration date). The cashiers of the commercial chains will be in constant contact with this database, and if information appears on the cashier that the expiration date has expired, the cashier will receive a warning and the sale will be blocked.
For retail chains, the sale of expired products is included in the top 3 violations annually.
Photo: Alexey BULATOV
“Magnit is already implementing this system in all its stores,” continues the expert Pavlov. – There will be no excuses for other networks either. After all, if there is a tool that allows you to stop the sale of delays, then do not use it in bad faith. If a network or store suddenly refuses to experiment, then it is a conscious assumption to sell unusable products. Questions will immediately arise about your decency for such an organization. I am convinced that all networks will join the experiment and use it permanently. It’s a matter of your reputation.
In addition, the expert is sure that the line of products labeled “Signal Honest” needs to be expanded. It would be nice to put it in semi-finished meat products and sausages. They also go bad pretty quickly.
– But ideally, all goods should be labeled so that their sale with expired dates is impossible, – concluded the expert.
SPECIFICALLY
The experiment will include:
– certain types of dairy products, including those intended for children;
– bottled drinking and mineral water;
– beer and some low-alcohol drinks,
– tobacco for smoking, chewing and snuff;
– hookah tobacco;
– smoking mixes for hookahs, not containing tobacco;
– electronic tobacco heating systems.
