Nestlé and Danone are among more than 30 signatories to a bid in France to cut food waste through a focus on date labelling.
Cheese giant Bel and Savencia Fromage & Dairy, as well as retailers including Carrefour and E. Leclerc, have signed up to an initiative devised by Too Good To Go, a Denmark-based start-up centred around an app that connects customers to restaurants and stores that have unsold, surplus food.
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In France, Too Good To Go has launched a “pact” focusing on consumption dates to increase shoppers’ understanding of ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ labels on-pack.
Under the pact, the signatories will also look to “clarify” the difference between the ‘use-by’ date (known in France as the date limite de consummation) and ‘best before’ (date de durabilite minimale) by, for example, the use of diagrams.
Companies also plan to “optimise” the monitoring of stock “to avoid food waste”, the start-up said, through devising a geographic map of entities focusing on reducing food waste.
“The consumption dates pact offers stakeholders a concrete commitment to more responsible practices,” Lucie Basch, the president of Too Good To Go, said.
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By GlobalDataNestlé said it would use its Mousline brand of instant mashed potato to help inform French consumers about the difference between the two date labels.
“As a major player in the food industry, it is our responsibility to avoid waste in the production of our products. But it does not stop at the doors of our factories, it is important to give our consumers all the keys to adopt the right actions,” Christophe Cornu, the president of Nestlé’s French arm, said.
