A review of the way dates are labelled on food is not a “magic bullet” that will help to cut food waste in the UK, according to the British Retail Consortium.
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Yesterday (10 August), the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) published its assessment on food production in the country.
The report outlined a series of challenges facing the sector and ways in which it could alleviate its impact on the environment, including reducing the amount of food wasted in the UK.
One of the proposals mooted to cut food waste is a review of the date labelling system for food. Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary Hilary Benn suggested that UK consumers need to start using common-sense to tell whether their food has gone off instead of prematurely throwing it away.
Speaking to the BBC at the weekend, Benn said that “use-by” dates are an important safety measure, but suggested that “best-before” dates served little useful purpose and could be ignored.
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By GlobalDataHe said: “There’s ‘use-by’ and that’s very important because that’s food safety. But, when it comes to ‘sell by’ or ‘best before’, I think we as consumers [need to] understand better what those labels mean.
Benn added that ministers are in talks with supermarkets about the use of “best-before” dates.
However, Richard Dodd at the British Retail Consortium insisted such labelling does serve a purpose.
“Labelling is there for a reason. It’s about improving ‘best-before’ and ‘display-until’ meanings. Retailers are working with the authorities for a better understanding of what these mean. The real route is helping customers to better manage and store food, not throw it away,” Dodd said.
According to Defra, each year the UK generates around 100 million tonnes of waste from households, commerce and industry. Most of this currently ends up in landfill, where biodegradable waste generates methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change.
