Marks & Spencer is making a big change to a range of fresh food produce in stores by removing best before dates from its packaging.
The retailer is set to remove the dates from more than 300 fruit and vegetable products, including apples, potatoes and broccoli, in a move that will impact 85% of its produce. The major change will be rolled out to all M&S stores across the UK from this week.
The dates will be replaced with a new code which will be used by M&S store staff to help make sure that the products maintain their quality and freshness. The shake-up is aimed at tackling food waste both in-store and in homes.
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M&S hope that removing the best before dates will encourage customers to use their judgement when it comes to throwing food away, rather than relying on pre-set dates and potentially binning products that are perfectly fine to eat. Research from waste charity WRAP estimates that a staggering 6.6m tonnes of food are thrown away by UK households each year.
It’s thought that many customers mix up best before dates with use by dates - while best before dates refer only to quality, use by dates refer to safety. Use by dates are included on products that could cause people to become sick if eaten when spoiled such as fresh meat, fish and dairy products, while on the other hand foods with a best before date are normally still safe to eat after the date has passed.
“Removing dates on fresh fruit and veg can save the equivalent of 7m shopping baskets of food being binned in our homes,” director of collaboration and change at WRAP Catherine David said of the move, Retail Gazette reports . “We urge more supermarkets to get ahead on food waste by axing date labels from fresh produce, allowing people to use their own judgement.”
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