When you sit down to your evening meal you don’t expect to be eating something that is 15 days past its use by date. In fact, you probably wouldn’t touch food that old in fear of becoming sick.
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Damien Brown became violently ill after eating a meal of Latina ‘fresh’ pasta he purchased from Woolworths at Orana Mall.
“I nearly went to hospital I felt so ill,” he said.
On their weekly food shop Mr Brown said he and his wife Pam usually grab a Latina pasta pack. On this occasion they purchased a ham and cheese variety on January 25.
Mrs Brown said she also felt a little crook in the stomach but was nowhere near as bad as her husband, who was almost “green”.
“You never think to check used by dates, particularly with something that has been kept in the refrigerated section of Woolworths,” she said.
“I thought it must have been some 24 hour thing, I didn’t put it down to the pasta until Damien checked it and almost threw it at me in disgust.”
The used by date labelled on the packaging was January 11, the Brown’s purchased the pasta on January 25. They have kept the receipts and the packaging to prove it.
“I think it is just disappointing,” Mr Brown said.
“They are dealing with food and people’s health.
“If the next day wasn’t a public holiday (Australia day) I would have had to call in sick and would have lost a whole days wage.”
Mr Brown put in a call to the ‘fresh food people’ at Orana Mall, yet he said he received a unsympathetic reply.
“They didn’t seem to care and were almost cranky with me,” he said.
“They offered me a refund which I said I didn’t want, I said I wanted a written apology.
“But I was told they couldn’t give me a written apology.”
The Daily Liberal put in a call to Woolworths yesterday, but they were yet to respond at the time of print. Mrs Brown said she had filed the incident with the NSW food authority.
“They said they would look into it, send it to Council and let us know if anything was going to eventuate,” she said.
The Browns said they would not be returning to Woolworths to do their shopping.
