Milk labels change colour to help avoid it going sour

MILK bottle labels will change colour to warn people if their fridge is too warm under a trial scheme to reduce the amount that goes sour and gets tipped down the sink.

The labels, which contain heat-sensitive ink, will start appearing on supermarket bottles from next year, says Wrap, the waste reduction charity, which is developing them with the industry.

Research by Wrap found that households are throwing away £25million of milk a year because it goes off in the fridge. Wrap says warm fridges are the most common reason for milk waste.

Typical UK home fridges are 2C warmer than the 0-5C the Food Standards Agency recommends, it is claimed. Wrap says many people don’t know the temperature of their fridge, and have no easy way of knowing how to set it to the correct level. The “thermochronic” milk labels are being tested to decide what colour, size and shape they should be, and all UK dairies could adopt them later if they are successful.

Andrew Parry, of Wrap, said: “Making sure fridges are at the right temperature (below 5C) could help reduce the amount of milk thrown away by more than 50,000 tons a year, saving householders at least £25million.”

Campaigners say setting fridges to the correct temperature would have benefits for many other types of food and drink, and milk is the perfect “hero product” to spread the message.