Food And Use By Dates – Do You Know How It Works?

A large proportion of customers have real difficulty in understanding the labelling instructions upon food labels and when the product is truly out of date. This confusion results in millions of tonnes of perfectly good food ending up in the bin each year through inadequate food labels.

Following the concerns the UK government has recently released a comment statement. The comment by the government suggests they believe that the issue surrounds the complexity of food labelling and the ability for consumers to understand when perishable foods are past their best.

Defra (the department for food and rural affairs) jumped into the argument stating that around 55% of the 8 million tons of rubbish and food waste is in fact entirely avoidable. The wasted edible food costs households around £680 a year.

Defra says it is working with the food industry to make labels easier to understand, but without introducing any new rules or regulations.

New guidance will be issued to supermarkets and other shops in the next month in a bid to end confusion blamed by experts for perfectly-healthy produce being binned.

The impetuous of the new guidance will focus around ensuring that labels are produced which provide clear ‘eat by’ dates and in a prominent manner rather than a focus upon helping the store keep adequate stock take.

Under UK law the best before date labels must be shown on food labelling in order to indicate when foods should not be eaten; this is despite the problem that typically occurs when the food is actually safe to consume. The principle exception to the current UK law is in respect of the consumption of eggs; the best before dates are primarily to indicate the quality of the egg not the safety of it.

The current use by date pertains to when the food is not safe to consume and should therefore be disposed off, this is even if the food smells ok. Food can of course be frozen and therefore care must be taken to ensure you carefully follow the instructions provided upon the food packaging.

Also Bare in mind that display and sell by labels are for the benefit of the shops and not consumers. The upcoming guidance to be issued will only relate to guidance and what the UK government would like to see; it will not be a compulsory requirement.