NO NEED TO FREEZE MEAT ON DAY YOU BUY

MILLIONS of pounds’ worth of uncooked meat – including chicken, bacon and sausages – could be saved from landfill if supermarkets followed alternative labelling guidelines.

According to WRAP, thousands of tons of uncooked meat are needlessly thrown away because of wrong freezing advice. More than one in three chicken products are wasted because supermarkets use a Freeze On Day Of Purchase label, which campaigners say causes confusion.

Customers throw away the food because they mistakenly believe that it is unsafe to eat if they do not freeze it on the precise day they bought it. In fact, as long as it is kept in the fridge, meat can be put in the freezer up until the ‘Use by’ date and then defrosted and cooked later. The guidelines urge supermarkets to use phrases such as ‘Freeze by date shown’.

Our investigation found that Iceland offered no freezing advice on any of its sausages, chicken and bacon, while M&S advised customers to freeze its chicken ‘on day of purchase’ rather than by the date shown, as they should.