Supermarkets ‘encouraging waste’ with rise in use-by labels

SUPERMARKETS are encouraging customers to throw food in the bin by sticking to potentially misleading “useby” dates, the Government’s waste group has warned.

The group, Wrap, found makers of yoghurts, cheese and bread are increasingly defying official labelling guidelines and replacing “best before” labels with use-by dates.

According to the Food Standards Agency and Wrap, products should carry use-by dates only when there is a safety risk if they are left for too long.

This is because use-by dates can wrongly give the impression that perfectly edible food is not fit to eat, therefore encouraging consumers to needlessly throw it away.

However, Wrap said in the past six years there had been a sharp rise in useby dates being put on yoghurts, with 91 per cent having adopted them by 2015, compared with 57 per cent in 2011.

Cheese also saw an increase over the period with 65 per cent carrying a useby date, up from 44 per cent in 2011. Use-by dates are now present on 75 per cent of naan bread, against 36 per cent of packs in 2011.

Wrap is to conduct a review of products that may be needlessly carrying a use-by date and will ask manufacturers to change date marks found to be inappropriate. Around 350,000 tonnes of avoidable food waste a year – at a cost of £1 billion to consumers – could be prevented through changes such as altering labels, Wrap’s report said.

Dr Andrew Parry, of Wrap, said it was not clear why some manufacturers were moving to use-by dates despite guidance telling them not to.

“Getting this right could save consumers a lot of money, which is why we are telling the industry that if there isn’t a food safety risk, they should not print use-by dates on packs,” he said.

“We have already been talking to the UK dairy industry and the juice industry, and good progress has been made.”

Wrap said it was also concerned to find a drop in blue snowflake logos, which remind customers that food is suitable for freezing.

They were present on 15 per cent of relevant products, down from 21 per cent in 2011, with particular reductions on bread, chicken, juice and cooking sauces.

While there are now more small-sized packs of some foods, including salad, which appeal to those who live alone or in a couple, small packs of sliced bread are disappearing. Standard 800g loaves made up 75 per cent of all bread available, up from 66 per cent in 2011.

Wrap also noted that smaller loaves had become more expensive over the period and were now “significantly” more expensive than larger ones.

It said bread was a particularly important area as it was one of the most wasted products from homes, with 460,000 tonnes thrown away a year.