Fighting against food waste

In the UK, 4.2 million tonnes of food are thrown away every year. Mostly because the time stamp on the packaging is of date. According to Eu regulations, all packaged food is required to have either a “use-by” or “best-before” date, but these labels can easily confuse consumers.

“Use-by dates are usually applied to fresh, perishable foods that may make you ill if they go off, while best-before dates are used for products such as bread and cakes which are unlikely to make you ill if you eat them past that date, although the quality may have deteriorated. Sell-by and display-until dates are there to help shop staff with stock rotation,” explains explains Kevin Hargin, head of foodborne disease control at the Food Standards Agency to The Guardian.