Food Expiration Dates

On 30th August, Sainsbury’s announced that it would be making a number of changes to its packaging labels across a range of fresh produce and dairy products.

The move has already begun, with “best before” dates being removed from over 100 fresh lines, including pears, onions, tomatoes, and citrus fruit, with another 130 lines to follow over the coming weeks.

Sainsbury’s hopes the move will halve food waste in its own operations by 2030 and help UK households save 11,000 tonnes of food.

In a slightly more unusual move, Sainsbury's has also made the decision to remove "use-by" dates on all of its own-brand yoghurts, replacing them with best before dates, although that follows on from Morrison's announcing earlier this year that it would move to best before dates for milk.

The move to ditch best before dates has been gaining traction, with supermarkets such as Waitrose, Asda, and Marks & Spencer also committing to removing best before dates and reduce waste. This arguably stems from Tesco taking the plunge in 2018, to be the first supermarket to drop the reference.

Use by dates are required for foods that are highly perishable from a microbiological perspective and therefore likely, after a short period, to constitute an immediate danger to human health (see further below).

They are typically used for food that is required to be refrigerated, including dairy products such as yoghurts.

However, Sainsbury's has indicated that testing shows that its yoghurt is safe to eat past its expiry date.

Best before dates are an indicator of quality rather than safety, meaning that once food has passed its best before date, it will be safe to eat after this date but may not be at its best, when it comes to flavour and texture.

The goal of these changes is to reduce waste and lessen environmental impact. The Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) has published research showing that approximately 54,000 tonnes of yoghurt is wasted per year, of which 50% is believed to be unopened packs of yoghurt.

However, businesses will need to be mindful of their food safety and labelling obligations.……

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