Defra has today released guidelines on how businesses can make date labels clearer on their produce. The department said each item should carry only one label for the customer to avoid confusion. Defra secretary Caroline Spleman said the clearer date labelling policy would help shoppers save money and stop perfectly good food being thrown away. image expired

The guide was published today in an effort to reduce the 8.3 million tonnes of UK household food and drink thrown away per year, by ensuring the right date marks are used on food labels. An estimated 60 per cent of this, or 5.3 million tonnes, is avoidable.

Under the guidance, food packaging should only carry either a ‘use-by’ or ‘best-before’ date.  ‘Sell-by’ and ‘display-until’ labels should be used only for stock rotation and should be removed by retailers to avoid confusion for shoppers. 

Ms Spelman said, “We want to end the food labelling confusion and make it clear once and for all when food is good and safe to eat. This simpler and safer date labelling guide will help households cut down on the £12 billion worth of good food that ends up in the bin.”

Liz Redmond, Head of Hygiene and Microbiology at the Food Standards Agency also commented, “There is a lot of confusion amongst customers about date marks. We always emphasise that “use by” dates are the most important, as these relate to food safety. This new guidance will give greater clarity to the food industry on which date mark should be used on their products while maintaining consumer protection.”

Defra said it hoped the food industry would ensure dates on their specific products were presented in such a way as to minimise confusion for consumers and reduce food waste, while keeping food safe. Foods likely to require a ‘use-by’ date include soft cheese, ready-prepared meals and smoked fish. Food likely to require only a ‘best-before’ date include biscuits, jams, pickles, crisps and tinned foods.

However, retailers have criticised the plans to end use of the ‘display until’ and ‘sell by’ dates. The British retail consortium suggested Defra instead focus on raising awareness of the meanings of the different terms.