I’ve been seeing in the news lately that some places in Europe, in particular a lot of grocery chains in the U.K., are ditching “best before” dates on some products. They say it creates food waste, mostly because people don’t understand them.
The issue seems to be mostly that there are a few different dates manufacturers use. There’s “best before”, which doesn’t mean it turns bad the next day. It’s just a ballpark date to give you an idea. There are actual “expiry” dates, which could indicate a science experiment is about to take place after that time. There are “sell by” dates, which are geared more to the people stocking shelves. And even a few others that pop up.
The big problem is, people don’t really think about the difference of the wording. They tend to view all dates as expiry dates, meaning consuming that item after that date could be hazardous to your health. Which isn’t actually true. So they tend to throw out products that are still good.
So some supermarket chains in Britain are taking dates off things like fresh fruit and vegetables. Dairy may be next. They feel they should leave it up to the customer as to whether or not they want t0 buy the product.
With fruits and vegetables, that makes perfect sense. If a bag of potatoes on the shelf has eyes growing out reaching for you, stay away. If something doesn’t look quite right, maybe skip it. Most of us can tell when fruit and veggies are getting a bit on the old side. I can f9or most things. Except pineapple. I have never bought a pineapple that was at the right stage. I have never figured out how to tell if they are not quite ripe, ripe or over ripe. But I don’t think a date on the side would make much difference.
So I think no dates on fruits and vegetables is a great idea. Most of us can tell if they are good or not. And proper storage can effect how long they can be sitting around your home before it’s time to tell them to start moving on.
With dairy, they are saying people should go more by the “sniff test” then by the date. I’ve done that a few times myself, so I don’t have problem with that one either.
But, those dates can come in handy for those who don’t consume a lot of dairy products. You might not want to buy milk that’s going to be lumpy in two days.
Surveys are showing that most of us in Canada like seeing dates on our food. So hopefully they don’t end up all getting ditched around here.
Just as an idea though… if the problem is the dates create food waste because people can’t understand which date is which or what it means, maybe work toward standardized dates. Instead of all the different dates, maybe just use one, so people can figure it out.
In the meantime, I’ll still smell my milk, no matter what the date. I really don’t like lumpy coffee.
