The health critic for the federal Liberals is calling for a change in regulations after a B.C. grocery store employee was caught on hidden camera giving salmon steaks a new best-before date.
Ujjal Dosanjh said he was surprised to see a CTV News report showing a worker at a Coquitlam Real Canadian Superstore repackaging fish with a new best-before date, moving it forward by four days.
"I thought it was rather revealing that a store such as a Superstore would allow this kind of practice to happen," Dosanjh said.
"It's rather deceptive for any store to change the best-before dates, because that then indicates it's fit for consumption, as previously not indicated."
Canadian law permits two types of labelling for goods that are expected to expire in less than 90 days: packaged-on dates and best-before dates.
Current legislation forbids stores from changing packaged-on dates, but retailers are permitted to change best-before dates based on best estimates of when the food should be consumed.
But Dosanjh said that's unacceptable, describing the difference in regulations as a "loophole" that needs to be closed.
"The regulations need to be changed and the government of Canada needs to make that happen very, very quickly," he said.
The Liberal MP said that the Liberals will be raising the issue in Parliament.
