Morrisons - to think this might backfire?

[Magicpaintbrush]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59928650
Morrisons are planning to remove the 'use by' date on their milk to prevent food waste, the idea being that people sniff it before they use it instead. I think reducing food waste is brilliant but ... AIBU to think that quite a lot of people will chuck milk out even sooner without 'use by' guidance as they won't know if it's still ok to use. And if, as the article suggests, milk is often fine for a few days after the use by date, why don't they just extend the use by date instead then ? I also think it will lead some people to chuck it on the 'best before' date if that's the only date on the label, thus wasting even more. I don't personally think I would trust a sniff test, I wouldn't feel confident about it. I think this new policy might lead to more waste not less, and would put me off buying it. Or is it just me?

This won't last long. Amazon are buying up all the UK's dairies, French vineyards and UK water companies. It has $125 billion spare cash to do that with which means it is about 20 times the size of Morrisons. By 2023 we will have the option of turning on our kitchen taps and selecting either water, Malbec, Sancerre, Skimmed, Semi-Skimmed or Full Fat Milk. A bit like how it must be in Simon Cowell's house.

Milk doesn't need a use by date because that's for food like meat and fish that could be dangerous after the date.

Milk may go off but it's not going to make people unwell, so it should be best before, not use by. After all, many people use sour milk in scones, pancakes etc.

But I despair at how so many people stick rigidly to dates and don't trust what their eyes, nose and taste buds are telling them.

If it looks, smells and tastes ok, it is ok.

Very sensible. No need for Use By dates on milk, I've always followed my nose. Plus I get milk delivered in bottles now and can't make out what the date is on the foil cap so don't have much choice but to smell it!

Tesco have dates on a lot of their veg. Things that last longer have codes instead, and it's easy to tell by the code which is the ones that will last longest.

But they also sell things like peppers, carrots, oranges and onions loose with no date. People seem to cope!

We get milk delivered in glass bottles with no use by date, and meat from the butcher, also with no use by date!

We've not been ill yet!

Yes, another reason why fruit and vegetables should be plastic free. Then it won't have dates on and stupid people are less likely to throw away perfectly good food.

This morning I ate tomatoes with 21 December as the date, along with eggs with 7 January. All fine, as were the sprouts with a date of 30 December.

I never look at the date on milk, I do the sniff test. Same with bread, if it doesn’t have mould on it I eat it.

My two DSs (early twenties) are terrible about dates. They won't entertain the idea of eating something past the date. They both pay for their own food now so not really my problem but it's exasperating to see.

This is a complete non-story as there will still be a date on there.

Perhaps if no date at all then might be quite radical - as others have said how would you know it hasn’t been sat in the shop fridge for weeks…but with a BBE date it’s practically the same anyway

If you get milk delivered in glass bottles from the milkman, it does have a date on it which is embossed onto the foil lid.

I don't care what they call the date, but I want one so I can make sure I get the milk out of the fridge in the right order.

We use a lot of milk so 4 pints every day. Milk is never on fridge longer than 3 days at very most so I just assume it is fine.

They are going to replace the use by date with a "best before". So there will still be a guideline on there.
Maybe read the whole article!!

What do people actually think will happen to them if they drink a little bit of off milk?

Second paragraph.

The retailer will instead place 'best before' on 90% of its own-brand milk and encourage customers to use a sniff test to check quality.

There’s no use by date in the glass bottles my milkman delivers. I just sniff if in doubt!

You have learned helplessness, would you drink milk if it was in date but it smelt funny? Of course you wouldn't, and it can happen a bottle left out in a hot kitchen can go off before the date. It's not difficult and I drink milk for days after the best before date and I am still here and I have never been Ill.

I've always used the sniff test with dairy..most things can go a few days over their use by dates...
However, having had Covid in October I still have no smell or taste back... hence me burning a sunday dinners worth of Spag Bol today when I thought I'd turned it off...but had turned it UP !

So for now it might be safer to have use by dates as a rough guide

We can take our own glass bottles to the farm and fill them with milk, no dates anywhere you have to remember the day you went. And just keep sniffing.

@Magicpaintbrush

www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59928650 Morrisons are planning to remove the 'use by' date on their milk to prevent food waste, the idea being that people sniff it before they use it instead. I think reducing food waste is brilliant but ... AIBU to think that quite a lot of people will chuck milk out even sooner without 'use by' guidance as they won't know if it's still ok to use. And if, as the article suggests, milk is often fine for a few days after the use by date, why don't they just extend the use by date instead then ? I also think it will lead some people to chuck it on the 'best before' date if that's the only date on the label, thus wasting even more. I don't personally think I would trust a sniff test, I wouldn't feel confident about it. I think this new policy might lead to more waste not less, and would put me off buying it. Or is it just me?

I don't know if it's just you but it's definitely not me. I just threw away the end of a bottle dated 31/12 and only because I bought a new bottle.

Not sure the "sniff test" is a great idea in the middle of a pandemic where people lose their sense of smell though!

If you can't smell it's off then you won't be able to taste it either. But if you are chewing lumps that's a clue.

I ignore dates on all food and go by smell and texture. We have created such a wasteful society people need to start to relearn how to tell if food is good or bad for you

Just to be cynical, how much milk do they dispose of when it's reached its use by date which is now saleable without a label? And how do you know how old the milk is ... surely some will slip through the net and linger in a fridge/warehouse in the supply chain?

I have no sense of smell, never have, not Covid related.

I have to pour milk into a coffee and see it curdle before I know it's off.

I can't sniff test anything so I'm quite cautious but I'm still alive (and very rarely get stomach upsets.)

I was watching a history channel thing today, it’s a repeat. Edwardian pharmacies had actual spit buckets cos it was better out than in! Most people recoil in horror when seeing someone spit these days, 100 years of evaluation has told us to avoid bodily fluids like that!

Same will be if we just stoop with artificial use by dates - smell and touch is all we need to tell if something is off

We get milk from the milkman - no date on it at all. I number the lids with a Sharpie so we use them in the order they came in. Loads of things are fine for longer than the labels state.