Shoppers’ confusion over date labelling on food and drink products is at the origin of a very common daily dilemma that is being played out in kitchens nationwide, with many erring on the side of caution and throwing away considerable amounts of still-edible food. The recent publication of guidance on such matters from Defra for businesses on the usage of date marks on food and drink products will be an additional tool for manufacturers to help shoppers in their fight against food waste. Under the guidance, Defra has stated that ‘sell-by’ and ‘display-until’ labels used for stock rotation should be removed and only ‘best-before’ or ‘use-by’ dates should be used. However, there is still a great deal of work to do to address consumer understanding around date labels.

Defra’s guidance aims to help businesses decide whether to label their food products with either a ‘best-before’ or a ‘useby’ date. Either one or the other of these dates is required by law, and the choice is a technical decision by the food manufacturer. The guidance acts principally as a decision tree asking a series of important questions around the production of a food product from a microbiological perspective.

At FDF, we fully support the continued use of ‘use-by’ and ‘best-before’ date marking as these provide very valuable information for shoppers on product safety and quality and we encourage our members to apply best practice when deciding on the most appropriate labelling for a specific product. All manufacturers want their consumers to experience their products at their best. ‘Use-by’ labels should be used to indicate that food could be unsafe to eat after that date, e.g. foods such as soft cheese or readyprepared meals need this date. ‘Best-before’ labelling, on the other hand, is a good way to communicate quality based on shelf life and to manage consumer expectations as some products will inevitably change in quality over time.

One of the main motivations behind the guidance is to minimise shopper confusion surrounding date marking, the result of which has contributed to the vast amount of food wasted in UK households – around 8.3 million tonnes. Through our Five Fold Environmental Ambition UK, food and drink manufacturers have had a longstanding commitment to reducing their waste and energy use. This commitment does not stop at the factory gates as many companies also look to reduce the environmental impact of their products when in a home setting. For example, some companies help consumers reuse their packaging by providing refill sachets of their products.

Safety remains the absolute priority for food and drink business operators and companies continue to improve shelflife calculations with the aim of helping consumers minimise any unnecessary food wastage in the home. Some of the solutions currently being explored include the development of lighter and less porous films and packaging that can increase shelf life by providing a better oxygen barrier. Active or intelligent packaging, which can extend shelf life or indicate to the shoppers when a product is no longer safe to eat, are also interesting options at different stages of implementation.

Defra’s guidance will enable manufacturers to review their use of ‘best-before’ and ‘use-by’ dates, which should be used by shoppers accurately and confidently to ensure they are not throwing away edible food. However, research from WRAP suggests that shoppers are still unclear about the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’. Both WRAP and the FSA are attempting to tackle this problem via campaigns such as Love Food Hate Waste and videos launched during Food Safety Week 2011, but more needs to be done to ensure the messages are widespread and highly visible for consumers.