Supermarkets Scrap ‘Best Before’ Dates to Fight Food Waste
Retailers are ditching 'best before' dates on produce, urging consumers to trust their senses and reduce waste.
The world’s leading supermarkets are taking bold action to tackle one of today’s most urgent sustainability challenges: food waste. By removing so-called “best before” dates from fresh produce labels, retailers are placing renewed trust in shoppers’ judgment and promoting sustainability across the supply chain.
Why Are ‘Best Before’ Dates Vanishing?
For decades, date labels have been both a guide and a source of confusion for shoppers. Originally introduced after World War II to reassure consumers of freshness and quality, these dates have, over time, contributed to enormous amounts of perfectly edible food being thrown away. The distinction between different date codes—like “best before” and “use by”—is often unclear, leading to unnecessary waste and economic loss.
- ‘Best before’ dates relate to the quality of a product—its favor, aroma, and texture—not its safety.
- ‘Use by’ dates are critical for safety, mainly found on items like dairy, meat, or pre-prepared foods.
- Many shoppers mistakenly treat ‘best before’ as an expiration deadline, discarding food even when it remains safe and tasty.
A recent move by leading UK supermarkets—including Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, Co-op, Aldi, and Morrisons—represents a seismic shift. These retailers have removed ‘best before’ dates from thousands of fruit and vegetable items, encouraging customers to rely more on their senses than on printed labels.
The Environmental Case: Food Waste as a Major Climate Threat
Globally, more than 900 million tonnes of food are wasted every year. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that food waste accounts for up to 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions. In the UK alone, 6.6 million tonnes of household food waste are generated annually, with up to 70% still edible at the time of disposal.
- Fresh produce—like apples, potatoes, tomatoes, and pears—are among the most discarded items due to confusion over date labels.
- Milk is the UK’s third most-wasted staple (after potatoes and bread), yet it has the largest carbon footprint per litre among staple foods.
- Each wasted litre of milk represents up to 4.5kg of CO2 emissions.
When good food ends up in the landfill, it decomposes and releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. The cumulative climate, economic, and ethical impacts are staggering:
- Climate Change: Food waste drives 8–10% of global emissions, worsening the climate crisis.
- Resource Depletion: Every wasted item squanders the land, water, and energy used in production.
- Biodiversity Loss: Unsustainable farming for wasted food disrupts natural habitats and ecosystems.
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Empowering Consumers: Judging Food by Sight, Smell, and Feel
Supermarkets are now encouraging customers to trust their own senses rather than rely on arbitrary labels. Before the advent of pre-packaged, industrially labeled foods, people checked fruit, vegetables, and even dairy for signs of spoilage. These simple, commonsense habits are making a comeback.
- Visual cues: Is the food vibrant or noticeably moldy?
- Touch: Is produce firm or slimy?
- Smell: Is there an off odor, or does the food still smell fresh?
Retailers like Morrisons even advise using the “sniff test” for milk, emphasizing personal judgment as the best guide. This approach has several clear benefits:
- Reduces needless food waste at home and throughout the supply chain.
- Teaches vital life skills to upcoming generations of consumers.
- Saves households money by making food budgets stretch further.
Why Was There So Much Confusion?
Research shows that more than 80% of consumers confuse ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates. This is compounded by a dizzying range of other labels—‘display until,’ ‘enjoy by,’ ‘expires on’—which vary by retailer and country. Inconsistent labeling, a lack of education, and a reluctance to trust personal judgment fuel unnecessary disposal of perfectly safe food.
| Date Type | Purpose | Implications for Food Safety |
|---|---|---|
| Best Before | Suggests period of peak quality/flavor | Still safe to eat after; check condition |
| Use By | Marks last day food is reliably safe | Should not be consumed after this date |
| Display Until / Sell By | For retailers’ stock rotation | No relevance for consumer safety |
The European Food Information Council (EUFIC) clarifies: “You should not eat food past its ‘use by’ date, but you can eat food past its ‘best before’ date if it looks, smells, and tastes fine.”
Fighting Food Waste: A Win for Wallets, Not Just the Planet
With steeply rising grocery costs, minimizing waste isn’t just a green ideal—it’s urgently practical. According to UK climate charity WRAP, food waste reduction could save the average household hundreds of pounds per year. For those facing economic hardship, stretching produce beyond a misleading date label is a welcome relief.
- Extended shelf life on produce means fewer unnecessary trips to the shop and less money spent.
- Households gain confidence in making their own judgments about what food can safely be consumed.
- Return to traditional habits of assessing food for freshness encourages less dependency on labels and packaging, which is also positive for reducing plastic waste.
Industry Trends: Are All Labels Changing?
Many supermarkets are also rethinking ‘use by’ labels on items like yogurt and milk, switching these to ‘best before’ instead. This move is based on scientific advice that such products usually remain safe for consumption well beyond the labeled date, provided they are properly stored and show no signs of spoilage.
For example, the Co-op is removing ‘use by’ dates from its store-brand yogurts, aiming to help prevent the £100 million worth of yogurt which UK households throw away each year while still edible. Morrisons has undertaken a similar initiative for own-label milk, encouraging consumers to use their senses before pouring milk away.
- Such steps reflect a broader global movement towards simpler, more informative labeling, with governments and industry groups in North America and Europe pushing for reforms.
- The US, for example, has considered establishing federal standards for date labels to eliminate confusion between quality and safety dates.
Are There Any Risks?
The primary concern is that removing certain date labels could cause safety issues if shoppers misjudge items that can truly become hazardous, such as certain chilled products or ready-to-eat meat and fish. As a result, ‘use by’ dates remain on foods with real food-poisoning risk. Educational campaigns are essential so consumers know how, when, and why to apply their senses—and when to adhere strictly to remaining labels.
How to Make the Most of Your Food: Tips for Shoppers
- Inspect regularly: Give your fruits and vegetables a look and sniff every few days. Discard only if they show clear signs of spoilage (e.g., mold, sliminess, rot, stink).
- Separate perishables: Store ethylene-gas-producing fruit (like apples and bananas) away from other items to slow ripening and prevent premature spoilage.
- Be mindful of fridge temperatures: Most produce and dairy last longer when chilled between 0–5°C (32–41°F).
- Empower all ages: Teach children and youth how to recognize truly spoiled food and which labels matter most for safety.
Food Waste: A Global Perspective
Across continents, food waste is both a burden and an opportunity. Solutions like label simplification add up fast:
- In the United Kingdom: Major stores have already removed ‘best before’ dates from the vast majority of produce, and plan to do more.
- In the United States: Shoppers still face inconsistent, confusing food labeling. However, movements towards a single, unified standard are underway. Advocates argue this could save Americans up to $1.8 billion annually in wasted food value.
Key international organizations—including the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UNEP—continue to call for robust action on food waste as an essential part of climate, hunger, and sustainability strategies.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: What is the difference between ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ dates?
A: ‘Best before’ dates highlight when food is at its freshest, but it may still be fine afterward if it looks, smells, and tastes good. ‘Use by’ dates indicate when food is no longer safe to eat and should not be ignored.
Q: Why are supermarkets scrapping ‘best before’ dates now?
A: Supermarkets are removing these dates to reduce confusion, empower customers, and cut massive amounts of edible food waste, which is crucial for environmental and economic reasons.
Q: Is it safe to eat food after the ‘best before’ date?
A: Generally, yes—if the food does not show signs of spoilage. Always check the appearance, smell, and texture, especially for fresh items. For ‘use by’ dates on high-risk foods (like meat, fish, or ready meals), do not eat after the date.
Q: Can this trend help fight climate change?
A: Absolutely. Reducing food waste can shrink global greenhouse gas emissions and conserve energy, land, and water resources by lessening the need to produce and transport food that will merely be thrown away.
Q: What should I do if a food product has no date?
A: Use your senses! Look for off-colors or mold, odd smells, and undesirable textures. If food is visually and olfactorily normal, it’s usually safe and enjoyable to eat.
Q: Will this approach work in other countries?
A: Many experts believe this trend will expand as public awareness grows and governments seek unified labeling standards to reduce waste globally.
Summary Table: Key Points for Shoppers and Industry
| Initiative | Reason | Benefit |
|---|---|---|
| Removal of ‘best before’ dates on produce | Reduce confusion and waste | Less food discarded, more money saved |
| Encourage sensory judgment | Restore traditional skills | Greater consumer confidence, life skills |
| Unified labeling standards | Simplify shopping, safety | Global waste and emission reduction |
Conclusion
The removal of ‘best before’ dates from supermarket produce isn’t just a packaging tweak—it’s a signal of transformative change. Supermarkets, governments, and climate advocates alike are pushing for smarter labeling and consumer empowerment as essential tools for curbing food waste, tackling climate change, and making food systems more sustainable for everyone.
References
- https://www.packaging-gateway.com/features/why-supermarkets-are-ditching-best-before-dates/
- https://chlpi.org/news-and-events/news-and-commentary/food-law-and-policy/why-food-stores-are-letting-go-of-best-before-labels-on-commonly-wasted-items/
- https://www.packagingdigest.com/food-packaging/why-are-grocery-stores-removing-best-by-dates-
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