Waste: UK supermarket removes best before date on 500 fresh products
The measure, effective from September, aims to “reduce the volume of food waste in UK households by encouraging customers to exercise their judgement,” according to the chain.
British supermarkets Waitrose announced on Monday that they would be withdrawing recommended best-before dates for almost 500 products in a bid to avoid discouraging their customers from consuming food that is still good, in a bid to fight food waste.
also readAuchan’s plan to limit food waste
SEE ALSO – Are these applications effective against food waste?
From September, Waitrose will remove “Best before(Best before), a target date beyond which the consumption of a product remains safe, on almost 500 fresh products, especially packaged fruit and vegetables, the company announced in a press release.
Brits throw away 4.5 million tonnes of food every year
This measure “aims to reduce the amount of food waste in UK households by encouraging customers to exercise their judgementwhen deciding whether a product is still consumable, the high-end supermarket chain added. “Food waste is still a big problem“and UK households”throw away 4.5 million tons of edible food every yearsays Marija Rompani, sustainability director at department store group John Lewis, Waitrose’s parent company.
The indicator “Best beforeis essentially related to the taste or nutritional quality of a product and corresponds to the “best before date” in France. On the other hand, the statement “use by“(Consume before) which is written on perishable products is an imperative notice and failure to do so poses health risks, as does the use-by period across the Channel. “We estimate that removing dates from fresh fruits and vegetables could save the equivalent of 7 million baskets of food from the landfill‘ said Waitrose.
also readSupermarkets agree on ‘energy sobriety plan’
The company is following in the footsteps of other British brands, such as industry giant Tesco, which dropped recommended consumption dates for a hundred products from 2018, or more recently Marks and Spencer, who did the same for 300 references. . Morrisons, another supermarket chain, announced in January it would be dropping the sell-by date rather than the recommended date for 90% of its store-brand milk, and encouraged customers to smell the contents of the bottle to know it’s always good.
SEE ALSO – Food waste, extreme suspense: Jérôme Anthony and Merouan Bounekraf reveal behind-the-scenes of ‘Chefs à domicile’
