Retail representatives have said that scrapping best-before dates as suggested this week by Hilary Benn, secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs, will not reduce food waste.
The minister was speaking at the Futuresource Conference in London on Tuesday, as he launched the government’s new green strategy, Making the Most of Packaging.
He said: “Some 370,000 tonnes of food are chucked out each year after passing their best-before dates, despite being perfectly good, safe and edible. When you buy something from the supermarket, it should be easy to know how long you should keep it for and how you should store it. Too many of us are throwing things away simply because we’re not sure, we’re confused by the label, or we’re just playing it safe.
“So I plan to tackle the way these labels are used, making it absolutely clear exactly what is safe and what is not safe, so we can stop throwing away good food - and stop wasting money in the process.”
But the British Retail Consortium (BRC) has questioned Benn’s plans, claiming that scrapping best-before dates on fresh produce will not lead to a reduction in wastage. BRC director general Stephen Robertson said: “Scrapping best-before dates won’t reduce food waste. Consumer education will. Date labels are there to help customers, but they need to understand what they mean.
“Retailers are working with the government to improve understanding and to help customers make better choices about buying, storing and using food at home.”
Both the industry and retailers are working with the government on waste-reduction initiative WRAP. The Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) is involved in the WRAP project to develop resource maps to identify areas of produce and packaging waste in the retail food supply chain and to provide guidance to the fresh produce industry on how to reduce waste.
FPC ceo Nigel Jenney said: “It is shocking that so much good-quality, safe fresh produce is thrown away simply because it is perceived to be out of date…
“FPC supports the need to minimise food waste and believes that to achieve this consumers need advice and information on how to store and enjoy fresh produce which is still at its best. Through the Eat In Colour initiative, the fresh produce industry has helped consumers with advice on storage of different types of produce, as well giving recipes for soups and smoothies to use up leftovers, in order to minimise waste in the home.”
But the BRC has questioned whether the government is even in a position to scrap best-before labelling. A spokesman said: “These labels are enforced by EU law so it is questionable whether the UK government can get rid of them. But the point is that best-before, use-by and sell-by dates all have important and different roles to play.”
The government strategy plans to tackle the whole chain from packaging manufacture to disposal, but there is also recognition for the function of packaging. The strategy states: “Packaging fulfils an important role in our lives. It protects food… Packaging helps to reduce the amount of wastage through spoilage and damage in the supply system and in the home…increases shelf life for the retailer and allows consumers to keep food fresher for longer.”
The strategy recognises that retailers and others are already playing a part in reducing waste.
At the same event, Benn announced five new government-grant funded anaerobic digestion projects.
“The aim of all this,” he said, “is to make it as easy as possible for us as consumers not to come across needless packaging in the first place and to get rid of what we do use in a way that doesn’t create more landfill, but instead encourages recycling and production of energy.”
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