Passengers aboard an “expensive” Air New Zealand flight from Nelson to Christchurch were left surprised after being given cookies that had best-before dates which were two weeks old.

The passenger and her friend were on an evening flight on Tuesday, when she checked the back of the plastic wrapper and noticed the ‘best-before date’ was 6 April 2023.’

When the passenger spoke to the attendant, she was told they didn’t have other stock available.

“When I showed her the expired cookies she wasn’t shocked or anything.”

“Tickets are so expensive, we’re paying a lot of money, it would be nice if the airline had up-to-date stock” the passenger said.

An Air New Zealand spokeswoman said “we take great pride in our snacks, and we apologise for the oversight in this instance and will endeavour to ensure it doesn’t happen again. 

Use-by and best-before dates – What’s the difference?

The two types of date markings used in New Zealand are ‘use-by dates’ and ‘best-before dates.’

New Zealand Food Standards said “you can still eat foods, for a while, after the best-before date as they should be safe but they may have lost some quality.”

On its website, it said, “foods that have a best-before date can legally be sold after that date provided the food is fit for human consumption.”

New Zealand Food Standards said “the only food that can have a different date mark on it is bread, which can be labelled with a baked-on or baked-for date if its shelf life is less than seven days.”

Foods that must be eaten before a certain time for health or safety reasons should be marked with a ‘use-by date.’

Foods should not be eaten after the ‘use-by date’ and can’t legally be sold after this date because they may pose a health or safety risk.