Description
Most, if not all, packaged perishable food products, will have either a sell by date on them or a display until date; in practice, these are exactly the same thing. After this date, it is either illegal for the store to sell them (this is the case in the United Kingdom) or the quality will have deteriorated to the point at which nobody will buy them. In either case, they cannot be sold.
If a product is still on shelves after its sell by date, it will have to be thrown away (recorded as wastage), which is both costly and wasteful to the store (suppliers must be paid even if stock is not sold). Therefore, it is imperative that sell by dates are strictly adhered to, and that products which will perish earlier be sold as quickly as possible.
Shoppers, on the most part, will simply walk up to a shelf and take the frontmost box of the product they are looking for; this is especially true if they are in a hurry. They will generally also, unless they are specifically looking for a product that will last longer, not pay much attention to sell by/use by dates. If products with an early sell by date are at the front, and later ones at the back, they will be sold first. If things are organised the other way round, or stock is improperly rotated, newer stock will be sold first, leaving out of date stock sitting on the shelves which will have to be thrown away.
Rotation also applies to loose products; in this case, there is usually no set sell by date, and produce must merely look fit to eat. Older stock is merely placed on top of newer stock to rotate it.
Read more about this topic: Stock Rotation
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