Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has issued a message to everyone who shops in its stores. The retailer is bringing in a huge change that will affect every one of its supermarkets.
The grocer has confirmed it will scrap date labels from over 100 fresh produce lines, including pears, onions, tomatoes, and citrus fruits. A further 130 products, including potatoes, will follow.
An on-pack message “no date helps reduce waste” will instead be present across the fresh produce where the label changes come into play. Sainsbury’s says the changes could save up to 17million food products going to waste a year.
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The retailer will also switch all “use by” dates on own-brand yoghurts to “best before” dates on 46 product lines. Sainsbury’s has already removed dates from over 1,500 lines of food including, pineapples, pumpkins, apples and indoor plants.
Research from Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) revealed that 54,000 tonnes of yoghurt is wasted a year. For 70% of this waste, the date label was cited as the reasons for throwing it away.
"Best before" dates are about the quality of food, while "use by" dates are used to show when a product is no longer safe to eat. Kate Stein, director of technical at Sainsbury’s said: “We know that around a third of all food produced for human consumption is either lost or wasted and food waste is one of the leading contributors of carbon emissions.
“We also know that by avoiding unnecessary waste, we can help our customers save money by making their food shop last longer. The changes that we’re announcing today will do just that, giving customers more autonomy to make their own decisions on whether their food is good to eat, and preventing them from disposing of food too early.”
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