The Quebec government wants to force grocery stores and restaurants to indicate a packaging date and a best-before date on meat and other perishables.

The new rules, if adopted, will apply to all food packaged in stores that has an anticipated shelf life of less than 90 days.

In a news release, Agriculture Minister Pierre Paradis said media reports from 2014 that revealed grocers tampered with the packaging dates on meat and poultry partly factored into the decision to bring in the new regulations.
-Grocery store secrets: Best-before dates tampered with, workers claim
-Best before dates and expiry dates: 5 things you may not know

That same year, a Radio-Canada hidden-camera investigation found some retailers change the labels of meat and poultry packages in order to convince consumers their products are fresher than they actually are.

Quebec breeders produce quality products and consumers have a right to know that there is no cheating going on. The government therefore had to intervene," Paradis said.

Currently, a federal regulation requires food to have a packaging date as well as a best-before date, but the latter date only has to be posted near the food product in the store, not on the product itself.

The government published a notice Wednesday about the labelling change. Consumers and retailers will have 45 days to comment on it, meaning the new rules won't come into effect before mid-August.

Those who break the new rules will be liable to a fine of between $500 and $3,000 for a first offence, and from $1,500 and $9,000 thereafter.

New rules unnecessary, retail group says

Florent Gravel, president of the Quebec food retailers association, says the change is unwarranted.

He says retailers already follow strict rules about how long meat can be for sale, so ultimately it's consumers who will end up getting rid of meat that is perfectly fine to eat.

"The consumer will automatically throw out the product" if it has passed the best-before date, he said, adding shoppers should go by the smell and look at the meat to tell if it's bad.

At a grocery store in Quebec City, Marie-Eve Lachance says she agrees with the change. She said she believes a best-before date will help her know if she's eating a quality product.
-Grocery stores caught cheating on packaging dates of meat and poultry
-3 foods you can eat after the best before date, but might not want to

Health Canada does not recommend eating anything after the best-before date, but the Canada Food Inspection Agency is more lenient, saying food can still be eaten after the date has passed but may lose some of its freshness and flavour, or its texture may have changed.

However, both agencies say consumers should not rely only sight, smell or taste to judge the safety of food.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/quebec-meat-best-before-expiry-date-1.3657427