denmark has new grocery store that sells only unloved foods

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Aren't expiry dates just recommendations anyway?

they are indeed a guide but there is no uniform criteria for the setting of the dates. I've tasted food [army C-rations] that were still good 25 years after preservation, and civilian foodstuffs were were only a few months past their expiration dates that were inedible.

If the packaging to food is damaged there's always a chance the food is either full of dangerous bacteria or it's been tampered with. Dented cans may not look punctured but that's because holes are just too small for the naked eye. But the germs it's like a cave.

At first by unloved foods I thought they meant food that a lot of people hate, like liver and Brussels sprouts and Lima beans and spinach and...

I really like stores like that. It's helpful to many people to have an affordable alternative for high quality food. These stores (near me at least) always have organic foods and are never crowded. I like people who give away high quality "ugly" food even more. But now it seems to be becoming "trendy" to buy "ugly" food, so I suspect the prices will go up.

ya left out olives and cucumbers

...At least initially , this sounded not that different from the " day-old bread " stores that some smaller towns still have...I voted " I Dunno " but I really mean " Yes " but not super enthusiastically .

^^^coming from your situation I can grok that.

I buy close-to-expiry dairy and bags of apples with bruises or a few with spots of mold on the stems. That's about it because I don't eat very much pre-packaged food and I don't find a whole lot of discounted produce that isn't literally rotting and/or covered with huge amounts of mold (I don't understand why stores actually try to sell produce once it's reached that point....maybe they don't have enough produce clerks to keep track or the ones they have don't pay very good attention or something) unless it's just a regular sale item.

I've bought dented cans in the past, but I avoid them now after getting several bad ones on separate occasions (rusted right through, splurty when opened....it's hard to tell what the damage is like behind the label; same goes for dents -- unless they are fairly big dents I cannot feel through the label if they are "sharp" dents vs. "smooth" ones, or whether or not they are on the side seam)....I don't save anything if I don't eat what I bought because the food itself shows signs of bacterial contamination or the can shows signs of a broken seal.

The grocery store I used to work at would put price reduction stickers on things like overripe produce, or packaged foods that were at or just past their expiry dates. The thing is, most of these things are safe to eat as long as you intend on using them as soon as you buy them. In fact, expiration dates on many foods tend to err on the conservative side, and and you can get away with eating most things a day or two after as long as they are properly stored.

WebMD has a good article on this: http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/feat ... tes-matter

Now, that all said, there are certain things you shouldn't eat past their expiry dates: http://www.activebeat.com/diet-nutritio ... piry-date/

in the county seat about 40 minutes from me, is a little store called the "shop n' hop" [one other in the next county also] that I get mainly expired canned and boxed/packaged foods from. I have noticed that those kinds are pretty safe in general, past their expiration dates, I've eaten army C-rations that were 2+ decades old and survived. however, things like potato chips and other snacks more often than not go stale/rancid rapidly within a few months of expiration.