British supermarkets Waitrose have announced the removal of best before dates on nearly 500 products. Objective: to avoid discouraging its customers from consuming food that is still good and thus to fight against food waste. “We estimate that removing dates from fresh fruits and vegetables could save the equivalent of 7 million baskets of food from the trash,” the chain estimates.
From September, Waitrose will remove ‘best before’ labels, an indicative date beyond which it remains safe to eat a product, on nearly 500 fresh produce, particularly fruit and vegetables under packaging, the company said in a statement. This measure “aims to reduce the volume of food waste in British households by urging customers to use their common sense”, adds the high-end chain.
“Food waste is still a major problem” and British households “throw away 4.5 million tonnes of edible food every year,” said Marija Rompani, sustainability director of the John Lewis department store group, parent company of Waitrose.
The “best before” indicator is essentially linked to the taste or nutritional quality of a product, and corresponds to the “minimum durability date” in France. On the other hand, the mention “use by” (consume before), which appears on perishable products, is an imperative mention and its non-compliance presents health risks, in the same way as the expiry date across the Channel.