According to Defra, shoppers are confused by the ‘Sell-by’ and ‘display-until’ labels used for stock rotation, and the recommend that retailers finding different ways of stock control, and instead stick to only labelling their products with a ‘use-by’ or ‘best-before’ date. To produce these guidelines, Defra consulted the food manufacturers, supermarkets, trade associations, consumer groups, food law enforcement bodies and Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP)
‘We want to end the food labelling confusion and make it clear once and for all when food is good and safe to eat.’ says Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, ‘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’.
The guide dictates that the ‘best-before’ date should indicate when the food is no longer at its best, but is still safe to eat, including foods like biscuits, jams, pickles, crisps and tinned foods. The food producers should only use the ‘use-by’ labels, on the other hand, where the food could be unsafe after that date, such as soft cheese, ready-prepared meals and smoked fish.
According to Liz Redmond, Head of Hygiene and Microbiology at the Food Standards Agency (FSA), ‘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’.
However, Which? executive director Richard Lloyd responded to the guidelines by arguing that the confusion over eggs still needs to be tackled as ‘Eggs are currently labelled as ‘best before’ when they should have ‘use by’ dates as they could be unsafe if eaten after a certain time’ and Which? believes this anomaly needs to be addressed so ‘there’s no room for confusion’ as your wellbeing is at risk if you include out-of-date eggs in your diet.