Best before dates removal cynical ploy

[MeetthemoveratDover]

So now ASDA along with Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons etc. is the latest supermarket to remove best before dates.

In theory this should help reduce waste as we all know fruit and veg lasts longer than the bb dates on them.

But does anyone else think this is just a cynical ploy to sell produce on the turn? It’s going to be a licence for supermarkets to sell almost gone-off stuff.

At least with a best before date you can expect to get a good few days or even week in the fridge out of fruit and veg. Whereas with no date, you could get it home and it’s started to turn off or mouldy within a day or two. Will there be shelves of slightly dodgy fruit and veg now?

Surely given the price of food we should have some guarantee of its freshness when we buy it?

Yeah no doubt you're right. I already find though that a lot of fresh stuff seems a lot less fresh than it used to be before Brexit and the pandemic though. Only going to get worse I guess.

Also I was perfectly able to decide myself whether things were still ok beyond their bb date.

I know people who look at the best before religiously, and even one who throws milk out two days before the best before.

You are probably right it just makes it easier for the supermarkets to sell products that are old. Some of them have always employed dodgy techniques though - emptying bagged carrots etc on their bb date into the loose section

YANBU. When buying milk for example I can look at the use by date to tell whether I can buy four pints now to last me the week, or if I need to buy two pints today and come back for more in a few days. Without the date information I have no idea whether the milk is going to be OK for a week or will turn tomorrow.

At least with fruit and veg I can handle them to gauge how fresh they are. Can't see Morrison's being happy with me opening up the milk to sniff it before I buy, even if I do, that's shortened the life of it anyway.

YANBU, I've always used the BB date as a guarantee that the produce will be good for at least so many days. Now that guarantee is not there anymore, there's no recourse for the buyer if the item goes bad within a day. Plus no more items will be reduced on their BB day now (unless they are already rotten)

I will be so upset if this happens , I’ve got quite bad ocd particularly around food and physically can’t eat food that is on its best before date it makes me feel so sick and anxious which I know is unreasonable but I can’t control it. Since I had covid a year ago o have still had no tatse or smell and it’s made me extra paranoid because I can’t smell or taste if foods “ok”

If it stops all the threads on here going ‘the date on X was yesterday, is it still ok to eat?’ then invariably it’s a good thing. You can look at produce before you buy it and see whether it looks like it’s on the turn. Online shopping you can reject it if it doesn’t look fresh enough.

And no one is completely getting rid of dates on milk afaik? All they’ve done is change them from use by to best before. To stop people needlessly tipping away milk which is perfectly fine but past the date.

No, I think the supermarkets will still have "sell by" dates for their own stock control. It may happen in independents, I suppose but I don't think the large stores will do it

Will this rule mean no more cut price foods near the end of the best date ?

Yabu. You can tell how fresh something is by looking at it. Want a ripe and ready pineapple - buy one which releases its leaves easily. If you want one to last, buy one that doesn't. Want an apple that will last? Buy one that isnt wrinkling and put it somewhere cool and dark (many are harvested from last year before they hit the shops). Want a banana to last? Buy one that's green.

Just get back in touch with what the produce tells you rather than BBE dates which were invented by M & S to market freshness.

I agree, the better thing would be to either print the date it was picked or something or to make it clear they're just a guide. I absolutely go by smell and appearance so will eat stuff past its date, but when choosing something I'll go for the longest date as this means it isn't as old as something with an earlier date seen as though they're just allocated dates x date from production. For consumers it means we can look forward to buying fruit and veg on the turn and wont be able to properly judge it through the mountains of plastic it comes in.

It's the best before date they're removing, not the use by date.

Sure, that works for potatoes, pineapples, bananas and apples, but when was the last time you bought loose salad, strawberries or grapes or pears? Stuff like apples or potatoes or carrots are not an issue anyway, as they last for ages, but I really want to know that the strawberries that look fine in their box today won't go mouldy tomorrow.

The BB date may have been invented by M&S, but society is not going to go back to the shopping habits of 60 years ago, when housewives were shopping for produce several times a week. When I buy food, I want some guarantee that it will last for a few days, then I'll happily eat it if it looks fine after its BB day.

Pears only come loose don’t they?
Salad and berries are not meant to last all week.

Honestly, it's because half a population couldn't figure out the clear difference between best before and use by dates. It will prevent waste. Just look at the veg and that's it. Nice plump strawberries will not go mouldy next day.

Yup

Mixed feelings… DH always insists on throwing away veg/fruit when ita reached the best before date even if it is completely fine. Drives me nuts.

But yes I expect the shops are doing this so they can sell older food without consumers noticing. ☹️

People like your dh are exactly the reason for this 🤷🏻

A woman in my office throws out everything at best before date. Drives me nuts- I had to put labels on my stuff to say not to throw it out. I will eat yoghurts past the use by date as long as they smell/taste ok.

She once threw chocolate away. Scandalous!

Use your own judgement when you’re picking your fruit and veg. Nothing goes from not-quite-ripe to past it overnight (except sometimes avocados, temperamental bastards). You can tell by the look and feel of stuff roughly how long it’s going to last.

If you buy anything from a market or grocer (or the loose section of the supermarket fruit and veg) then you’re reliant on your eyes to gauge freshness. Perhaps it will be a good thing and push more people to buy that way rather than wrapped in lots of wasteful plastic.

And that’ll still be there, because that’s a use by date. This is about bbe dates. People not being able to tell the difference is precisely why they’re being done away with.

I think it’s a good idea to get rid of Best Before dates on some stuff.. And from what I can gather staff will still be looking at the fruit and vegetables etc to see if still in good condition.

But surely you just look/feel the fruit and veg when you pick it? I mainly buy loose fruit and veg and never had any problem with it going off quicker.