Question's in the title really.
The amount of waste shops are building up is quite simply wrong. It's not a case of them being clumsy or lazy but a case of if something reaches its sell-by date, it cannot legally be sold and I am told that the authorities / senior managers take such acts very seriously.
That said - is a sell by date really needed? Just to inform those who don't know, a lot of fresh products have a sell by date and a best before. Sell by date is the legal date we can sell it to; best before is when your advised not to consume it any longer.
Eggs have a best before date 7 days AFTER the sell by date. Shops have to waste off eggs knowing full well they can last ANOTHER 7 days if not more.
For bread this difference is 2 days; for most vegetables it is 2-3 days.
Just to put some figures into this discussion lastly. I'm in charge of waste recording for fresh at my store. It's a fairly small store where fresh encompasses about 2 isles: dairy-prodicts, produce (veg/fruit), meat & bakery. From the past two days I wasted off 90 quids worth of food. Now this is slightly higher than usual - due to noobs in the store not rotating or reducing sharp enough but I mean come on - 90 quid is a family's shopping for a week/fortnight.
Anywho - enough blabbering. Is it really time to either get rid of the best before & sell by dates altogether (and maybe just introduce an 'advised eat by date' or allow shops to sell items outside of the sellby date / best before date aslong as they show FULLY the fact the product is out of date.
The amount of waste shops are building up is quite simply wrong. It's not a case of them being clumsy or lazy but a case of if something reaches its sell-by date, it cannot legally be sold and I am told that the authorities / senior managers take such acts very seriously.
That said - is a sell by date really needed? Just to inform those who don't know, a lot of fresh products have a sell by date and a best before. Sell by date is the legal date we can sell it to; best before is when your advised not to consume it any longer.
Eggs have a best before date 7 days AFTER the sell by date. Shops have to waste off eggs knowing full well they can last ANOTHER 7 days if not more.
For bread this difference is 2 days; for most vegetables it is 2-3 days.
Just to put some figures into this discussion lastly. I'm in charge of waste recording for fresh at my store. It's a fairly small store where fresh encompasses about 2 isles: dairy-prodicts, produce (veg/fruit), meat & bakery. From the past two days I wasted off 90 quids worth of food. Now this is slightly higher than usual - due to noobs in the store not rotating or reducing sharp enough but I mean come on - 90 quid is a family's shopping for a week/fortnight.
Anywho - enough blabbering. Is it really time to either get rid of the best before & sell by dates altogether (and maybe just introduce an 'advised eat by date' or allow shops to sell items outside of the sellby date / best before date aslong as they show FULLY the fact the product is out of date.