Food waste past its sell by date

[Gromit]

Sell-by dates on fresh produce could be a thing of the past as part of a new "war on waste", according to Hilary Benn, the Environment minister.

He warned that best-before dates are intended to be a mark of quality but are often mistaken for a safety warning. Sell-by dates are used by retailers for stock control - but can end up confusing customers into throwing away perfectly good food.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/foodan ddrinknews/5485574/Sell-by-dates-could-be-scra pped-to-stop-food-waste-says-Hilary-Benn.html

Commonsense at last?

[squarebear]

Yep, some people seem to assume that food turns to instant poison overnight once this date is reached. Good to see some common sense as you say.

[Julnar]

I'm old enough to remember a time before sell by dates. My Mum would look in the fridge, find something she'd forgotten about, look at it, sniff it and hope for the best. I don't remember suffering too much.

[ChuckFickens]

LOL

Yeah a lot of people do seem to think it's a magic date!

11:59pm food perfectly OK

12:01am food will kill you if you eat it

[BertiWooster]

00:00 Risky

[jack daniels]

I've bought reduced priced food, many a times & then it's sat in my fridge for a few days (if not frozen) before i've used it & i'm still alive to tell the tale!

[jno]

it seems to be a matter of clarity more than anything else. People think 'best before' means 'lethal after', which it fairly obviously doesn't. But I think there's room for an unambiguous 'eat before' label - people who eat it after that can take the risk but should not be able to sue anyone if they fall ill.

[Segilla]

Outdated food in my freezer can be there for several months and I've never had to toss anything away.
If in doubt sbout any food; smell it, scrutinise it, cook it well.
Don't listen to 'hygienic little beasts' who are too exquisite, too finicky.

[theonlyone]

Test it on the cat , as they are so fussy about meat .

[Booo]

I work in my local Co-Op (glam eh? you're all jealous aren't you?)...and the amount of food products that we throw away on the day, or usually the day before the best before date is downright criminal.

We have Freegans who regularly rumage through the bins come nightime and frankly whilst it annoys me (If I cant have the food for nowt- I dont see why they should) I can't blame them for snaffling perfectly good and still fresh (ish) food.

[rov1200]

I sometimes wonder how our parents survived. They had neither a fridge or a freezer, just a larder. In fact in many third world countries they do not have the mod cons we in the West take for granted. You sometimes see meat hanging up in an outdoor market with the flies buzzing round and the sub tropical temperatures making the meat sweat.
I suppose the best by dates are before the maggots have got to it.

[dave2222]

i still cover my meat with salt who needs a fridge.

[Ice.Maiden]

I cover mine with a tea towel when it's out of the fridge. Don't fancy flies landing on it! : )

[tamborine]

my larder is keyed to keep kids out.....they constantly throw out my dated tins. Only when I eat out I get food poisoning!

[jno]

we didn't have a fridge when I was a kid, rov1200. So we didn't bulk buy - just enough for a day or two ahead. But it meant Mum had to go shopping almost every day. Today's working mothers might not find this so easy. (And fathers don't shop, of course.)

We did keep the flies off it, though.

[B00]

Oi Groms! Where's my stars? Gimme!

[annie49]

When I was working we were told that any food 'Best before'

[annie49]

sorry pressed wrong key anyway we were told 'Best Before' was only an advisory date but a 'Use By' date was something which had to be used by the given date