Erasing Expiration Dates on Food Items

My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: My employer has me erase expiration dates on items such as rice, kids marsh mellow. I think this is cruel and disgusting. I want to know if I can sue them for making us do this. This is the #1 thing they make us do at this job. Its a constant issue. Please help!

can you sue them? No. You can quit doing it though. If this is an actual expiration date (one required by the FDA) you can refuse to erase the dates. If fired, then you can apply for unemployment and maybe sue them for a wrongful discharge. You didn't include your state (as asked for) so I cannot give you anything specific to your state.

With the exception of infant formula, no food requires open dating. There are no regulations requiring it and there's no regulations covering obliterating any date that is there.

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Quoting flyingron

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With the exception of infant formula, no food requires open dating. There are no regulations requiring it and there's no regulations covering obliterating any date that is there.

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thanks Ron. After a bit more research I see the federal rules. The FDA does suggest that some states do require dating on certain foods so if the OP would post their state, whether a date is required or not can be confirmed or denied as well.


Even if the date is not required, I would still consider the eraser of a date the manufacturer included to be an act against public policy and as such, could still lead to the actions I suggested should the OP be fired (again, predicated on the specific state as each have them have come to different conclusions on "against public policy" issues).

I live in California. How can I tell if its an actual expiration date from the FDA?

Not relevant to OP's question, however pertinent to the general discussion, I have been to an expired grocery store in Little Rock AR, that was selling baby formula over 3 months out of date.

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Quoting jk

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thanks Ron. After a bit more research I see the federal rules.

Even if the date is not required, I would still consider the eraser of a date the manufacturer included to be an act against public policy and as such, could still lead to the actions I suggested should the OP be fired (again, predicated on the specific state as each have them have come to different conclusions on "against public policy" issues).

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While most would think that obliterating the use date is an issue I don't know if it rises to a cause of action if one was terminated for complaining & getting fired over. And these laws are very much state dependent. I don't think all states have the public policy exception to at-will employment.

The OP could write to the manufacturer and let them know ... I'm sure they may no longer wish to sell to them. Much risk is associated with such type of activity though.

As I stated, the only FDA requirement is for infant formula. You'll have to check with the California Department of Food and Agriculture (http://cdfa.ca.gov/).
There's quite an extensive contact list there that you can likely find someone there to answer your questions and if warranted investigate the store's behavior.

The California courts appear to have recognized a breach of public policy exception for “exercising rights under federal or state health and safety laws.”

Before refusing to continue erasing the expiration date information, the OP may want to check with a local employment law attorney first to make sure he is on solid ground concerning the breach of public policy claim. He may also want to check with the state department of agriculture and/or other state agencies which regulate food. If the law would support such a cause of action in this instance and his convictions lead him to take a stand, then the OP can consider confronting management over this issue.

Always file a complaint with a gov't agency. Do not talk to your employer about such issues - it will only get you fired and then its extremely hard to win a wrongful termination suit--the deck is stacked against the employee - by a lot.

so what do you think i should do? i have pictures as evidence. and also this employee doesn't pay me my full overtime hours, but i don't have proof of that so its my fault.

ESteele has already told you what you should do.

Regarding the OT pay, contact the CA DLSE.