Sainsbury's is set to follow in the footsteps of other supermarket giants Asda and Morrisons to remove 'use by' dates from some of its produce to try and reduce the amount of food waste. This change will see the 'use by' dates scrapped on 46 own-brand yoghurts, which will instead be replaced with 'best before' dates as a way of allowing customers to make their own decisions on whether these products are good enough to eat.
Currently, around 54,000 tonnes of yoghurt is wasted every year and around half of it is still in unopened tubs. Consumers say that the date label constitutes to around 70% of the reasoning behind binning it, according to research by the Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap).
Manchester Evening News reports that Sainsbury's has reassured customers that although 'use by' dates advise when food remains safe to eat, its own "stringent testing" confirmed that its yoghurt was safe to consume past its expiration date. Moving to ‘best before’ dates for the products would allow consumers to make their own decisions on whether the products remained good to eat, it said.
