Food hygiene and food waste.
Posted: 22 Apr 2022, 15:16The Co-op is about to do away with use-by dates on its yoghurts to try to stem food waste and has opted to have only best-before dates instead.
I do not think it will have an impact on food hygiene, as some claim, but I am not sure it will work on food waste either. Lots of people see sell-by, use-by and best-before dates as the same things and will religiously bin anything the day after any of those dates has passed - I know loads of people who act that way; family members. Those dates are mainly to help manufacturers and retailers to shift and control stock. Most foods are good to eat days after any date.
To cut down on waste there are a number of other options. 1. Force the big buyers (supermarkets / wholesalers) to be less picky about the size, shape and look of things. About 40% of total food waste is crops being ploughed back in because they do not fit into the "perfect" category as defined by the above. 2. Sell more loose items instead of pre-packaged amounts - six or eight of these, 1 kg of that, 1 litre of the other.
As a singleton it really bugs me that smaller or single versions of some things are nearly the same price as their larger cousins or multi-packs. A 400g loaf is about 80% of an 800g one, three single yoghurts are the same price as a six pack, and so on.
If we want to cut down food waste then things need to change.
I do not think it will have an impact on food hygiene, as some claim, but I am not sure it will work on food waste either. Lots of people see sell-by, use-by and best-before dates as the same things and will religiously bin anything the day after any of those dates has passed - I know loads of people who act that way; family members. Those dates are mainly to help manufacturers and retailers to shift and control stock. Most foods are good to eat days after any date.
To cut down on waste there are a number of other options. 1. Force the big buyers (supermarkets / wholesalers) to be less picky about the size, shape and look of things. About 40% of total food waste is crops being ploughed back in because they do not fit into the "perfect" category as defined by the above. 2. Sell more loose items instead of pre-packaged amounts - six or eight of these, 1 kg of that, 1 litre of the other.
As a singleton it really bugs me that smaller or single versions of some things are nearly the same price as their larger cousins or multi-packs. A 400g loaf is about 80% of an 800g one, three single yoghurts are the same price as a six pack, and so on.
If we want to cut down food waste then things need to change.