DATE LABELLING CHANGES

Under department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) plans, the terms “sell by” and “display until” will be phased out.

This terminology is only relevant to food retail outlets for stock control purposes and often leads to confusion in customers.

Instead, food packaging will only be marked with “Use by” or “Best before”.

Environment Secretary of State, Caroline Spelman said “We want to tackle the confusion around food labelling that contributes to the amount of good food that gets wasted. We want to simplify this so that you can see when a food should be ‘used by’ for food safety reasons. Then we want ‘best before’ as an alternative for foods that simply deteriorate in quality.”

According to the Waste Resources Action Programme (Wrap), households in the UK throw away 8.3 million tons of food and drink every year and 60% of that could be avoided. The campaign has claimed households are wasting up to £50 every month by throwing out food that is still edible and in good condition. The proposed changes are aimed to reduce the amount of food that is thrown away unnecessarily.

Under the new voluntary guidelines, food packaging should only use either ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ date labels to make it easier for shoppers to know when food is at its best and how long it is safe to eat.

‘Sell by’ and ‘display until’ labels used for stock rotation should be removed to avoid confusion for shoppers, with different ways of tracking stock control explored by retailers.

Foods likely to require a “use-by” date include soft cheese, ready-prepared meals, vacuum packed cooked meats and smoked fish to give some examples of foods which have a high protein and moisture content and will easily support the growth of harmful or pathogenic bacteria.

Other foods which have a low protein or moisture content such as crisps, bread, jams, pickles and chocolate or have been frozen or canned, will only require a “best before” label.

What should you do?
Continue to ensure that all foods that you prepare as part of a catering operation, open original packaging or remove completely from original packaging, have an “opened on/prepared on” and “use by” date clearly marked and that a suitable shelf life is always applied to all high risk foods. Most catering organisations choose a shelf life of 2 or 3 days for high risk or ready-to-eat foods. Always follow the guidance stated on the manufacturers’ label.

Remember that is a legal requirement to ensure that all foods on your premises are clearly labelled and that the use by date has not expired.

For more information, visit the Food Standards Agency, or download the guidance and read it for yourself here:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/publications/files/pb132629-food-date-labelling-110915.pdf