The mounting problem of food waste has become a conundrum for the fresh produce industry in recent years, especially since large volumes of fruit and vegetables are thrown away even when they are still good enough to eat, week in, week out.
Research from the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) shows that UK households throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food every year and in a sign that there is huge potential to turn this around, some 70 per cent could have been eaten.
The fresh produce category represents a problem area for retailers and consumers, especially given the confusion around the differences between the four main date labels - ranging from sell-by and display-until dates to be used by retailers as stock control, to use-by dates to highlight potentially high-risk foods and best-before dates, as an indication of quality - as well as how fruit and vegetables should be stored at home. The issue is borne out in WRAP figures that show consumers discard some 1.4mt of fruit and vegetables each year and the category makes up around 18 per cent of avoidable waste.
Food Standards Agency (FSA) research shows that half of consumers do not understand the difference between the various date labels, with 36 per cent of people treating best-before labels as use-by dates rather than as an indication of quality. And worryingly, more than half (53 per cent) of people never eat fruit and vegetables past their best-before dates.
This has both an environmental and financial impact, with the average household throwing away food to the value of £50 a month that is being brought into the home, but not eaten.
But what can the fresh produce industry do to set itself apart from high-risk categories such as meat, fish and dairy and convey to consumers that storing produce in the right way will enable them to enjoy fruit and vegetables at their best, for longer?
The situation came to a head last month when DEFRA secretary of state Hilary Benn pledged to make it “absolutely clear exactly what is safe to eat and what is not safe”, as he launched the government’s new green strategy, Making the Most of Packaging. He said at the time: “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 proposals received a mixed response from the trade. A freshinfo poll that week showed that the majority of respondents see best-before dates as “a useful guide”, at 49 per cent, while 27 per cent consider them “pointless” and 24 per cent brand them “a cause for confusion”.
One pollster wrote: “Man has lived for thousands of years without date codes, what is the point in putting a date on an apple, a pear or a leek? You can see when it’s rotten!”
Another added: “Loose [produce] doesn’t need a sell-by or use-by date on, so why does packaged? This does beg the point, why not go back to basics, what with the over-use of packaging and excessive waste from this. As always, what looks best in the consumer’s eyes is decided on. However, while consumers are looking more and more at issues like food waste, strong decisions need to be made for the best of the industry.”
It is clear that this is a problem that can only be solved with co-operation from across the supply chain, with input from the government and commitment from the consumers themselves.
Back in February, the first steps towards the creation of a working group on this issue were taken when representatives from WRAP and the FSA met with the food industry, consumer groups and UK government departments to tackle the issue of food waste by improving consumer understanding of date labelling and storage advice. This work is expected to build into a wider public consultation in the autumn, before the FSA releases its revised date labelling guidelines.
The move comes a year after the government published its Food Matters report, which emphasised the need for more consistent and accessible advice to consumers around food.
Andrew Parry, WRAP manager for household waste prevention, claims that the fresh produce category is fairly consistent in its use of date labels, but there is still room for improvement and clearer communication across the board. “Fresh produce is an interesting one because both loose and pre-packed fruit and vegetables are the exception in that they don’t need a use-by or best-before date, with the exception of processed products or bagged salads, for example,” he says. “However, the industry has adopted best-before labels to give consumers an indication of when the product is at its best. We would like to see how the industry could move away from sell-by or display-until dates so that consumers only have one date to look at.
“But we want to examine how consumers would react to pre-packed fruit and vegetables sold without any date label at all and whether they would use their judgement more or whether they would throw more away.
“The aim of the meeting in February was to think about how we can reduce the 3mt of food that is not stored properly and ends up being thrown away,” he continues. “One of the key elements is communication and looking at how we can amplify the messages about date labels and storage that are already out there. The second objective is to make it easier and clearer for the industry to select and apply date labels because the FSA guidelines are not as clear as they could be and they have started an informal consultation process to change this.”
WRAP launched the Love Food Hate Waste initiative to tackle these issues and provide a consumer-facing element to its campaign against waste, by offering tips and advice on planning, storing and cooking food. The project was named the Stubbins Innovation of the Year at the Re:fresh Awards in May.
Julia Falcon from the Love Food Hate Waste campaign is keen to see a shift in the number of date labels that are presented to the consumer and the way the message is communicated, in order to clear up confusion and help cut food waste. “We have looked into the fresh produce category because we felt that there could be a link between fruit and vegetables going off faster than consumers expected them to and the high level of waste in the category,” she explains. “We found that the problem was linked to storage. Our research showed that on apples, for example, 74 per cent of consumers store them in the fruit bowl in ambient temperatures, but we have found the apples benefit from being stored in the fridge and can last up to 14 days longer.
“Our message is counter-intuitive because most people put their fruit in the fruit bowl, but we organised some activities last year including a series of tip cards to highlight that fruit such as apples, tomatoes and lemons can be kept longer if it is chilled.
“Since the launch of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign, we have been encouraging consumers to pay attention to use-by dates because they are the most important ones. At the same time, we need to make people see that best-before dates are about quality,” she continues. “One thing that we are working towards is trying to get retailers and brands to reduce the visibility of sell-by and display-until labels so that consumers are then only faced with use-by and best-before dates, which should minimise confusion.
“But it is not as easy as it seems as the retailers have completely integrated these stock control mechanisms into their way of working. And best-before dates are regulated by the EU, so we cannot change them. There are challenges, but that is what the working group is looking at.
“If we can find more consistency, we can make it much clearer for the consumer.”
But the retailers are starting to act on this issue and the big four multiples have pledged to support the Love Food Hate Waste campaign.
The Co-operative Group, as a case in point, responded to the ongoing labelling debate by including storage instructions for fruit and vegetables on its loose fresh produce bags. The storage instructions, printed on the bag, relate to a selection of loose produce and indicate the optimum conditions in which each of the products should be kept to maintain freshness.
The retailer is also supporting the Love Food Hate Waste campaign by switching the emphasis of its promotional offers - particularly on perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables - from buy-one-get-one-free to half-price offers.
Nigel Jenney, chief executive of the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC), believes that to reduce food waste, consumers need to be educated about how to store fresh produce in order to eat it at its best. “It is shocking that so much good-quality, safe fresh produce is thrown away simply because it is perceived to be out of date,” he says.“The 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.
“Under the Food Labelling Directive, most pre-packed food is required to carry a date of minimum durability and only highly perishable foods that could constitute an immediate danger to health are required to have a use-by date.This decision remains with the supplier or retailer, who is best able to determine this.
“The FPC is involved in a 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.”
But it is clear that food waste is not going to go away without a consistent and clear-cut effort from across the supply chain. The next steps will be crucial, but the sustained effort of the Love Food Hate Waste campaign and its work with retailers is a good starting point for the fresh produce industry, which - with the right support - is well placed to turn around public perception and boost consumption.
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