Could clearer labelling reduce waste?

Use-by, best-before, display until…? To tackle the food waste issue, food businesses are being urged to only employ a use-by date if it is absolutely necessary, and to move to best-before which allows consumers more time to use the product, reducing the amount of food heading to landfill unnecessarily. Earlier this year, Morrisons became the first UK supermarket to remove use-by and switch to best-before dates on 90% of its own-brand milk in a drive to reduce waste.

Read on to find out how to choose best-before and use-by labelling and why it’s important, not only for consumer safety but also for the planet. 

What are the differences between best-before end (BBE) and use-by food labelling?

Firstly let’s look at the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) definitions. A clear way to understand the labelling is that a use-by date relates to food safety while the best-before date relates to food quality. The FSA has made a handy video explainer - watch here. 

Use-by dates - all about safety

Use-by date labels are often found on highly perishable food, such as meat or fresh salads, “indicating that customers should not eat, freeze or cook the food after that date as it could contain bacteria and if stored for too long or at the wrong temperature could cause food poisoning”. The food may appear edible to consumers, but it could be unsafe to eat or drink. Often such foods can be frozen ahead of the use-by date to avoid waste. It is important to follow storage instructions so that the use-by date is valid.

Best-before dates - quality and the sniff test

So while use-by is about safety, quality is the watchword for best-before dates. The food will be safe to consume but it may not be at its top quality in terms of flavour or texture. Best-before date labels tend to be appropriate for the majority of foods.

Best-before dates appear on a wide range of foods including:

• frozen foods (such as peas, chips and ice cream)
• dried foods (such as pasta and rice)
• tinned foods (such as baked beans and canned tomatoes)

Again, it is important to ensure that the food is stored according to the instructions on the packaging for the best-before date to be accurate.

With best-before dates, consumers can employ the sniff test to check if the food or drink is suitable for consumption.

Best-before is unlike use-by dates which have to be followed to the absolute letter on safety grounds; you cannot see bacteria that could give you food poisoning. The rules on use-by dates also apply if you are giving the food away, for instance to a food bank; “giving out food after its ‘use-by’ date puts people at risk, and could lead to enforcement action being taken against the food bank.”(FSA)

Display-by and sell-by Labels

To add to consumer confusion, there is often a display-by or sell-by date on the label too. These are for food businesses to aid stock rotation and help guide how long an item should stay on the shelf. WRAP recommends that only one type of date label is used on a pack; display- until dates should not appear with a best-before or use-by date. 

Food waste and use-by-date

Use-by dates can be helpful if they are absolutely needed in the cases outlined above. However, they also seem to be confusing the public and leading to more waste. A recent survey found that 64% of British adults correctly understand that best-before dates mean that the food will not be at its best quality after the date shown, but only half (52%) believe the food is perfectly safe to eat. This drops to 44% of 18 to 24-year-olds. 

This survey was conducted by Too Good To Go (a food waste app) to mark the first anniversary of its ‘Look, Smell, Taste, Don’t Waste’  campaign to tackle the confusion around use-by labelling.  They are encouraging consumers to use their senses when it comes to assessing the best-before date of food to avoid waste, as well as asking businesses to remove the use-by date on products to prevent any confusion.

That’s where the joint guidance from the FSA, Defra and WRAP comes in to only apply a use-by date when it is 100% necessary for food safety reasons. If it’s not needed, a best-before label allows consumers more time to use the food, thus reducing waste. 

And reducing food waste is vital to mitigate the damaging effects of climate change. According to WRAP, the UK produced around 9.5 million tonnes of food waste in 2018 comprising:

• 6.6 million tonnes (70%) from households.
• 1.5 million tonnes (16%) from manufacturers.
• 1.1 million tonnes (12%) from hospitality and food service (HaFS).
• 0.3 million tonnes (3%) from the retail industry.

The estimated value of this was £19 billion a year and 25 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. Importantly, they argue that 6.4 million tonnes could have been eaten - the equivalent of over 15 billion meals. 

To clarify from the WRAP food Labelling Guidance:

“The decision whether to apply a ‘Use By’ or ‘Best Before’ date should be made on the basis of food safety considerations. As standard practice, businesses need to take this into account when designing products, but to avoid food being wasted a ‘Use By’ date should only be applied for food safety reasons. 

Factors such as food quality, consistency within or across food categories, concerns about customer perceptions of product freshness or quality and others unrelated to food safety should not govern the choice of date label.”

Better food labelling: improved safety, reduced waste

To conclude, the overriding principle in food law is food safety. But we also need to work together to reduce food waste. That’s where best-before and the sniff test comes in for consumers alongside better labelling. 

Let’s end with a quote from Ben Elliot, Defra’s food waste champion:

"Every year, significant amounts of food are unnecessarily wasted across the country. Often food that has passed its ‘best before’ date is perfectly safe to eat for weeks, or even months after. It is important that we help people better understand whether produce is safe to eat, and that information on food is clear, helping people make these decisions."

What’s next? 

Planglow is the home of the UK’s foremost food labelling experts and market-leading labelling software. Find out more about our labelling app, LabelLogic Live, which helps you stay ahead of any legislative changes and manage food date and safety labelling efficiently. If you have any questions, one of our account managers would be delighted to help - contact us.