SAINSBURY’S is to swap ‘use by’ dates on its own-brand milk for ‘best before’ dates in what it says comes in a bid to prevent customers pouring away milk that is still safe to consume.
The supermarket explained that research from WRAP shows that milk is the third most wasted food in the UK, with over 490 million pints thrown away each year – it added that this is often because the milk has passed its use by date.
Customers will be encouraged to follow the Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) guidance, which recommends using sensory cues to see if milk with a best before data label has gone bad. For example, by sniffing the product.
The move will affect 44 products in total, including all own-brand fresh and organic milk sold across Scotland, England, and Wales, and will apply to over 730 million pints of milk sold by Sainsbury’s each year.
Ruth Cranston, director of corporate responsibility and sustainability at Sainsbury’s, said, “Around a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted.Combatting food waste is one of our top priorities and we are continuously innovating to tackle this issue, all the way from farms and suppliers, right to our customers’ homes. By switching to best-before dates on our milk we are empowering customers to make their own decisions on whether their food is good to eat, helping to prevent them from disposing of food too early.”
Catherine David, director of behaviour change and business programmes at WRAP, added, “We are delighted to see this change from Sainsbury’s, which will help reduce food waste in our homes. Wasting food feeds climate change and costs money – with the average family spending over £730 year on good food which ends up in the bin. Our research shows applying the appropriate date label to products can help reduce the amount of good food that is thrown away.
“Applying a ‘best before’ date to milk rather than a ‘use by’ date means that people can use their judgement to eat beyond that date, allowing longer to use what they buy. Check out the Love Food Hate Waste for tips on how to maximise the life span of food – for example ensuring the fridge is below 5oC, to keep food fresher for longer.”
