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By
Sean Poulter
Last updated at 1:31 AM on 12th July 2010
Confusing: 'Sell-by' and 'best- before' dates on products will be scrapped
Confusing 'sell-by' and ' best- before' dates which appear on thousands of products are set to be scrapped in a move against waste.
The Government believes the labelling system is misleading shoppers, with thousands of tons of perfectly good food being thrown in the bin.
The typical family throws out an estimated £610 of safe food every year, with the total UK figure totalling around £10billion.
Confusion stems from the fact that many products carry four different date labels that shoppers find impossible to decipher.
There is a 'sell-by' and 'display-until' date which, historically, have been useful to retailers to help them with stock management.
There is also a 'best-before' date, which is supposed to be a guide to let a customer know the optimum time to eat a piece of fruit or crack an egg.
Finally, there is a 'use-by' date, which is actually the only definitive safety guide for a shopper and signifies that a product may cause harm if eaten after this date.
The Government and the Food Standards Agency are looking at replacing this system with a simple 'use-before' date - the only piece of information that offers a safety cut-off point.
Official figures suggest as much as 450,000 tons of food is misguidedly thrown away each year after passing its ' best before' date.
Research by supermarket chain Morrisons found that 55 per cent of people will throw away an item that is past its 'best-before' date, despite the fact it is safe to eat.
The waste reduction body WRAP says 1.3million unopened yoghurt pots are dumped every day, along with 440,000 ready meals, 5,500 whole chickens, 4.4million apples, 5.1million potatoes and 1.6million bananas.
A WRAP spokesman said: 'At least 450,000 tons of food is thrown away because it has passed its best-before date, but if stored correctly should be perfectly safe to eat.
'Best-before is a guide to food quality, not safety.'
The current labelling situation is further confused by the fact many manufacturers have chosen to put 'use-by' dates on products where it is not legally required, such as bread.
One of these, bread manufacturer Warburtons, has decided to remove the 'use-by' date on some products ahead of the shake-up.
A spokesman said: 'We have made this move based on customer feedback and that some confusion existed with consumers on the use of display-until dates.'
The Government is also moving against the food waste associated with BOGOFs - buy one get one free - on fresh food. The deals are designed to encourage shoppers to buy in bulk on the basis of getting a bargain, but much of this food goes off before it is eaten.
Tesco and Sainsbury's have responded to concerns by introducing a BOGOF deal where customers can walk out with one pack and collect a second, free of charge, at a later date.
The Government also plans to put pressure on stores and manufacturers to cut out excess packaging.
Currently, every household in the UK buys 200kg of packaging every year in addition to the products they actually wanted.
Among the ideas under consideration are ' recycling on the go' points - small recycling stations on every High Street to take aluminium cans, paper or glass.
The labelling of food should be such that it uses a simpler system indicatiing the latest date at which foods that might be perishable should be used
Labels should also indicate the origin of all foods not just the last place in which they were processed e.g. Irish and othetr cheese can have a UK inication if it is cut into pportions and wrapped here.
- alan douglas, ludlow, 12/7/2010 11:15
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