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Most food items sold at dollar chains are not expired, and if they are, just barely.
Would you buy food at the dollar store? Many people are hesitant because they believe these cost-conscious outlets sell items that are long past their best-before dates. But is it really true? To find out, we visited six Toronto dollar stores and examined 129 pre-packaged food items.
Turns out 97% of the items we surveyed were fresh. At the big chains, Dollarama and the Great Canadian Dollar Store, we didn’t find a single item that was past its best-before date.
However, the independent stores didn’t fare so well. We found four out-of-date items, principally cake and bread mixes that were sitting on store shelves for an average of 86 days past the best-before date. Keep in mind that consuming an item past its best-before date is not necessarily a food safety concern: The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says you can buy and eat foods after the best-before date has passed, but the food may lose some of its freshness and flavour, or the texture may have changed.
While it may not be possible to find all the items on your grocery list in a dollar store, enough deals can be found to make the trip worthwhile. Limiting your food purchases to the larger dollar store chains may be your best bet, as many now carry major brands with the same quality as what you’ll find at the grocery store.
| Product | Best Before Date (BBD) | Days before BBD | Days past BBD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Humpty Dumpty Cheezies | 3/14/2014 | Within 2 months | |
| Uncle Ray's Chips | 9/10/2014 | ||
| Prens Cookies | 7/26/2014 | ||
| Sun Maid Raisins | 7/12/2014 | ||
| Supreme Coffee | 11/15/2014 | ||
| Major Gourmet Italian Soup | 2014-05 | ||
| Gold Seal Sardines | 9/12/2015 | ||
| Vienna Sausage (Can) | 9/15/2016 | ||
| Cup of Noodles | 3/7/2014 | Within 2 months | |
| Supreme Pickles | 3/21/2015 | Within 2 months |
| Product | Best Before Date (BBD) | Days before BBD | Days Past BBD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Treat Me Biscuits | 2015-01 | ||
| Dr. Oetker Cake | 1/12/2014 | Past BBF | 20 |
| Dr. Oetker Chocolate | 9/17/2013 | Past BBF | 137 |
| Dr. Oetker Lemon | 9/21/2013 | Past BBF | 133 |
| Sandwich Cookies | 2014-03 | Within 2 months | |
| Wafers | 2015-02 |
| Product | Best Before Date | Days Before BBD | Days past BBD |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brunswick Sardines | 2018 | ||
| Bella Boullion Cubes | 2016 | ||
| Added Touch Chocolate Cake | 2015-06 | ||
| Betty Crocker Corn Bread | 12/10/2013 | Past BBF | 53 |
| Holiday Ham | 2015-05 | ||
| Cardile Chocolate Cherries | 8/20/2014 | ||
| Treat Me Biscuits | 2015-01 |
| Product | Best Before Date (BBD) | Past Best Before? | Days Past BBF |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sriracha Sauce | 2015 | ||
| Classic Thai Sauce | 2015 | ||
| Frank's Red Hot | 2015 | ||
| Twisted Fruit Punch | 2014-05 | ||
| Tang | 12/1/2015 | ||
| Balance Rice Smoothie | 1/25/2015 | ||
| Heinz Mayo | 9/14/2014 | ||
| Medulin Mushrooms | 5/20/2016 | ||
| Aylmer corn | 9/4/2015 | ||
| Unico Mixed Veggies | 12/2/2016 | ||
| Chef Boyardee | 10/4/2014 | ||
| Coffee Mate | 12/15/2015 | ||
| Jello | 7/24/2014 | ||
| Quaker Dipps | 8/2/2014 | ||
| Tostagrill | 11/1/2014 | ||
| Finger Cookies | 7/5/2014 | ||
| Spaghetti | 9/9/2015 | ||
| Clark Chicken Noodle | 2017-05 | ||
| Chippy Peanut Butter | 9/12/2015 | ||
| Gourmet Soya Beverage | 11/24/2014 | ||
| Granola with Chocolate | 11/21/2014 | ||
| Betty Crocker Cake | 12/11/2014 | ||
| Salted Crackers | 6/22/2014 | ||
| Pie Crust | 5/1/2014 | ||
| Icing Sugar | 2/15/2015 |
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My 3 year old French bulldog died in June and my English bulldog almost died the same day and we thought it’s food poisoning so we changed his raw food to dry food but then again my English bulldog almost died 3 weeks ago and we found out the treats they sell in dollar store are Exired since May & June and that’s probably the cause of death of my baby Yankee! I am not letting this go! The heart ache that I have been going through and the medical bills I have been paying and my babies suffering like this, DOLLAR STORE will have to pay for this!!! U can never bring back my baby Yankee, but I will make sure no other puppy dies because of you selling expired food and treats!