Removal of date labelling

[Georgyporky]

Sounds good, but not working to consumers' advantage.

Better education would be preferable, so many people don't know the difference between Use-by & BBE

An example.

Sainsbo remove the date from spring onions. DH is quite good at shopping, but failed to notice that the s.o. were a tad tired. They didn't last the usual week.

Next time I was there, a shelf-stacker was moving the new crate underneath the old. A Manager stopped him & said "leave it on top , all the old biddies go for the bottom layer as they think it's fresher". I gave him a death-glare & he almost ran away.

So, the consumers throw away unusable food rather than the supermarkets.

I don't know why spring onions would have a date on them in the first place.

If people would throw them out just because the label was a day out, despite them looking and feeling fine, we've got big problems.

I don't really get your point. People are just going to have to use their eyes instead of checking a label now.

I use my eyes/nose anyway, never check dates.

My DH is like that, he wouldn't dare eat anything past it's BBE date even if it is still perfectly fine. He is also terrified of reheating homemade meals as he thinks it'll give him food poisoning and no amount of persuading from me made him change his mind. So we cook fresh dinner every evening 🤦‍♀️. He is well educated and has a high level job 🤷‍♀️

@TaRaDeBumDeAy

It's not about throwing things away because of the date - I've never done that. It's because they decay & are unfit to eat.

I like to buy the freshest possible food - particularly short-lived items.
If I buy old products, they will become inedible more quickly - so I have to throw them away (& lose money) rather than the shop.

Same thing just happened with my carrots

I've found with Sainsbury's in particular, it has become an excuse to sell substandard produce. I stopped shopping there for that reason.

Yeah. We always shop at Sainsbury but the veg is rubbish now. I'm tempted to switch.

Mauve people will have to shop more seasonally then. And meal plan to use the things that will go off quickest first.

I liked the system we has abroad. Stuff was labeled with a packed on date.
So it was easy to see what eas the freshest, but you had to use common sense about if it was fit to eat.
Use by was in place for long life stuff (which was mainly imported) but pre packed fruit and veg (which there wasn't much of), eggs, deli meats etc all packed on.

Tbh I agree with pp who said this is about products being thrown away at home and not by stores rather than anything about not wasting food. And making more money when customers have to throw away products because they've rotted before use.

Sell by dates are useful otherwise I'm going to buy a product that may only have 1 or 2 days left rather than one that has a week left over.

Nothing to do with what they look like in the fridge once I get home.

If British supermarkets sold high quality fresh fruit and veg it might not be so much of an issue but they don't.

I had this with a cucumber, also Sainsburys - packed in plastic so it was impossible to smell - it felt firm, I bought it & ate it then 48 hours later it had black spots all over it 🤮

I wonder if i should have taken it back?

My supermarket has supposedly got rid of some, but not all, dates. Short shelf lifes still have dates but longer shelf lifes don't. They have secret codes instead but you don't have to work at GCHQ to work out that they are the dates!

We've had years of dates on food labels though and the public hasn't educated itself and there's only so much spoon feeding of information that you can do for grown adults.

I freeze loads of stuff, it's very rare any food goes in the bin here. I'm using frozen celery and spring onion in tonight's jambalaya.

This could have all be prevented by not wrapping everything in frigging plastic/net bags. THAT is also shit for the environment. I'd prefer to choose my own stuff, the rest they can give over to the volunteers picking up food waste, or simoly... order less so it doesn't go off.