MSE News: Food label guidelines shaken up in a bid to prevent waste

Former_MSE_Helen

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

"New government guidelines on food labels have been released today in a bid to help shoppers save money ..."

Read the full story:

Food label guidelines shaken up in a bid to prevent waste

thepearce

Surely it's easy enough to work out already. All I can see happening is supermarkets get longer to shift the goods.

casper_g

Who are all these idiots who throw food away when it reaches the "sell by" date, anyway? Surely it should be self-evident what the different dates mean? If you're not selling the food, a sell-by date isn't meant for you!

Beki88

Probably will only make my local Tesco worse they cant even rotate stock now!

I used to be one of those people who hurried round grabbing what I needed only to find that a lot was out of date, now I have to scrutinise the date of everything. And even that doesn't guarantee its safe as the stock at my local seems to go off/gone off before the use by date!

lynzpower

But its the "sell by "

And the "display until"

Both of which are usually a day before the 'use- by' date.

I have not seen display until or sell by on packaging for ages, there is no need, as there is a use-by. That reduces waste in itself.


This is a non story and a none event.

I would love to hear from anyone who buys a product in the next week with either of these two phrases on.

jenniewb

lynzpower wrote: »

But its the "sell by "

And the "display until"

Both of which are usually a day before the 'use- by' date.

I have not seen display until or sell by on packaging for ages, there is no need, as there is a use-by. That reduces waste in itself.


This is a non story and a none event.

I would love to hear from anyone who buys a product in the next week with either of these two phrases on.

Agree, most of what I buy seems to have the BB4 but not the 'Display until', add to this that those foods don't get as reduced as much as the BB4 dated stuff, its no big deal I think.

I hope that fewer people will buy loads of the reduced foods as they will go bad sooner, maybe theres a chance the heards of people will reduce at the reduced food aisles and I may get a chance to pick something up without feeling as if I am in a war zone... (but not holding out much hope of that happening!)

Am thinking many stores will have higher complaint rates about reduced foods bought and may even lose money over it though, may take a while but I'd imagine stores reducing foods a few days earlier then the BB4 dates on them eventually.

corbyboy

How many products have a use by or sell by date anymore? Very few. Eggs are the only example I can think of.

The fact is that after these proposals ALL food will still have a date on it and people (like my wife) will throw it away when it gets to this date.

gilligansyle

corbyboy wrote: »

How many products have a use by or sell by date anymore? Very few. Eggs are the only example I can think of.

The fact is that after these proposals ALL food will still have a date on it and people (like my wife) will throw it away when it gets to this date.

Most cooked meats etc. have a 'use by' date - but surely common sense and sense of smell tells you whether or not they are OK to eat. I have ham in my fridge from Asda that has 'display until' and then a 'use by' date of the following day. But I'll still check it as it first.

BB4 is purely that - best before and most things are fine long after that date. I have pasta in my cupboard with a BB4 date of over a year ago, and have no intentions of chucking it out.

Th

Lip_Stick

I'm sure milk in Asda has a display until date on it. It's a fair few days before the use by date too. I don't have any in my fridge at the mo so can't guarantee that it's not changed recently.

Gordon_the_Moron

lynzpower wrote: »

But its the "sell by "

And the "display until"

Both of which are usually a day before the 'use- by' date.

I have not seen display until or sell by on packaging for ages, there is no need, as there is a use-by. That reduces waste in itself.


This is a non story and a none event.

I would love to hear from anyone who buys a product in the next week with either of these two phrases on.

Morrisons pre-packed fresh fruit and veg has both a display until and a best before (usually a day or two after the display until) such dual dating is totally ridiculous, as in my opinion is putting a 'best before' date on fresh fruit and veg anyway.

European_Citizen

I've just checked and Tesco's whole chicken has both 'display until' and 'use by' date with one day difference. I think most people can distinguish between the two; the bigger problem is that many people (obviously not wise MSE ) would throw away food which is past its 'best before' date. There should be more information about the difference between 'use by' and 'best before'.
Some stores reduce their food on the 'display until' day, thus giving you one day to eat it. I suppose in the future we will have to consume our 'reduced to clear' bargains on the day but we could also freeze them immediately.