Hitendra Patel, Costcutter Romford, has added to the debate over best before dates on cereals. He says there isn’t any excuse for having three-month out-of-date cereal on your shelf because they have such long date codes (C-Store, Aug 3). “At least a year, so that’s a year and three months that the retailer didn’t check. And most shelves hold only half a dozen boxes, a maximum of 12. You can easily push a bar of chocolate to the back of a shelf several times, but not cereal.”

So, there’s a lesson from a guy who has been there, done that. •