Rishi’s dine out food ‘18 months old’

DINERS taking advantage of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Eat Out to Help Out scheme may have been eating meat, fish and vegetables that are up to 18 months old.

The closure of restaurants and pubs during lockdown means the food industry is sitting on £20 million of excess produce. But Government-approved changes to ‘best before’ labels now allow supermarkets to offload their leftover products.

Experts stress it is safe and lawful but want the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to publicise the move to diners. Darren Goldney, of the wholesale group Unitas, said: ‘We don’t want this situation, but these are exceptional times and stocks are going to last another six months.’

Food that has exceeded its ‘use by’ date cannot be legally sold for health reasons. Products with a ‘best before’ date can be eaten long afterwards as long as it has been stored correctly. Frozen beef, chicken and lamb can last an additional 18 months, along with chips and most vegetables.

Frozen prawns and salmon steaks are also fine for another year. James Bielby, of the British Frozen Food Federation, said: ‘If this food stock is good enough to go to charities, it is good enough for the rest of us. Defra must take the lead in resolving this.’

Britons have eaten 35million discounted meals under Mr Sunak’s scheme, which sees half-price meals on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Defra said it urged food businesses to do ‘all they can to work through the current stockpile of food and avoid waste’.