MSE News: Tesco removes best-before dates to cut food waste

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Tesco is removing best-before labels from almost 70 items in its fruit and veg range in a bid to help reduce food waste
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''Tesco removes best-before dates to cut food waste''

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''Tesco removes best-before dates to cut food waste''

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Tesco know this, and I totally agree that it's a ploy to ensure Tesco don't have to remove food from their shelves.
I think its a good thing. I've been at a friends house when she insisted on binning potatoes and carrots because of the date on the bag despite them being perfectly edible.
So she's not just wasting perfectly good food but she is also wasting money. I've used potatoes over a month over (don't eat many). It is just a case of using common sense. Of course, if your nose is not working so well then that could make sense.
The big problem will be when we learn that we cannot even pretend to trust them to remove their stock by even days after their coded date has passed. We won't be able to prove that it is the stuff we bought this morning not the ones we bought last week that is already past eating.
A removal from sale date would be much more sensible (like many monthly magazines do). At least it might give us some idea how long it had been on the shelf with random people handling it & squeezing it.
I've already cut down a lot on what I buy from Tescos as they are quite expensive, but this is just going to push me elsewhere. After all, am I going to pay 75p to not have a clue how old something is or 50p for the same? Especially when the second one seems to have that stock moving out more quickly.
This change sounds good - if you don't already shop there, then you know their problem is a stock rotation one causing the dumping of too much food
Removal from sale date would be viewed as a best before date by many.
I'm not criticising them, nor do I think they'll be shaking in their boots, but their competitors will keep giving me information on how fresh the product is. This will help me pick the product which will last at home for the longest, which reduces the chances that I will waste some of the food.
Contrary to what others say I don't think product rotation is the answer. Most people, if they think the date on the product they see is too short, will dig a little and try to find a longer date.
Price is the answer to the food waste problem. Some people are willing to pay more for fresher food, some people willing to take older food for less money. Use technology to charge more for food with a longer shelf life, to charge a standard price for food within what is considered the "fair" range, and a progressively lesser price for food approaching (and lower still if past) the "best before" date.
This is plain deceit by Tesco because they don't like customers taking the fresher stuff instead of the staler stuff - concealing dates and replacing them with codes (claiming that it's really for the customers) is a typically sneaky Tesco trick and I hope it backfires on them.
I take them out of the plastic bag (makes them sweaty) and keep them in a cardboard box.
I've never thrown potatoes away.
When they get a few sprouts on them, I make them into mash and freeze them.