It seems the UK is in the forefront of efforts to reduce food waste, these days. We recently reported that the nation will get new laws encouraging the recycling and re-use of food that would otherwise go to the landfill. Now, a national supermarket chain is making its move to save waste…
Tesco’s Head of Food Waste Reduction, Mark Little, launches
a previous Tesco Produce promo programme: “Eat Fresh”
British Environment Secretary Michael Gove last week announced a new national plan to cut food waste and divert massive food supplies to food banks, charities and soup kitchens. Now Tesco Supermarkets, the leading British discount food retailer, has announced it will pull ‘Best Before’ dates from 119 fresh fruit and vegetable products. They test marketed the plan on packaged products a few months back.
How will this help save food?
The chain says people will be less focused on often arbitrary ‘Best Before’ dates and more on to taking a greater interest in their fresh food and rely more on their own judgement when considering whether food is still safe to eat.
A recent poll of customers commissioned by Tesco showed that the strategy should work. In the survey, 69 percent of shoppers agreed scrapping ‘Best Before’ dates as a good idea, and hem keep fresh food for longer. Some 53 percent said that, without ‘Best Before’ dates staring them in the face, they would keep fresh food longer before tossing it.
Just indicators of ‘quality’…
Tesco officials say ‘Best Before’ dates are largely just indicators of when foods pass their point of peak quality. There’s no real correlation between ‘Best Before’ dates and the wholesomeness of the food.
Tesco’s Head of Food Waste Reduction, Mark Little told Metro UK that, “Removing best before dates is our way of making it easier for customers to reduce food waste at home and save money in the process. It’s simply not right that food goes to waste, and we’re going to do everything we can to help.”
No risks with other, riskier foods…
Tesco says it well keep ‘Best Before’ and ‘Use By’ dates on its Meat, Poultry, Seafood and Dairy products. And bargain hunters will be pleased to know that the chain’s iconic ‘Yellow Sticker’ specials will continue, with Produce Department Staff using their own knowledge and judgement to decide when to mark down prices.
Working with partners…
Tesco will also work with its food chain partners – growers and wholesalers – to find new ways to reduce waste. That effort will include allowing more ‘wonky’, or ‘ugly’ produce on the shelves, as well as developing new products that will use up Fruits and Veggies that would otherwise be trashed.
We’ll keep an eye on the Tesco initiative and let you know if the ‘trend’ catches on with other retailers…
~ Maggie J.