On a lighter note...
After discovering that about $1109 worth of food is thrown away yearly by the average UK family, the British government wants to take steps to reduce that number and save people more food. But how?
New government rules aim to target "sell by" and "display until" labels which confuse shoppers and lead to unnecessary waste. "Best before" labels will be thrown out and replaced more with "use by" labels, which will be placed on items such as yoghurt and prawns, which have definite shelf lives. According the bbc.co.uk, "A spokesperson for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs said: 'By law, pre-packed food must show a 'best before' date - even though many foods are still safe to eat after that date. This is very different from the 'use by' date that shows when food is no longer safe and should be thrown away. Being clear on the difference between the two could help us all to reduce our food waste.'"
In other words, shoppers' confusion is causing this massive amount of waste in the UK. 8.3 million tons of food are thrown away in the UK each year, which is enough to fill 4,700 olympic-sized swimming pools. The British government's anti-waste branch, Wrap, claims that 5.3 million tons of that wasted 8.3 million tons could have been eaten. And with a recent survey confirming that half of all consumers do not understand the difference between such "sell by" or "use by" or "best before" labels, it seems obvious that the labels are the culprits of such waste and therefore should be reformed. According to bbc.co.uk, that same survey confirms that "More than one-third believe any product past its best-before date should not be eaten and 53% never eat fruit or vegetables after they have reached that date."
British Secretary of State for the Environment Hilary Benn suggests that sell-by dates be eliminated and best-befores ignored. However, some retailers argue that food labels are good for consumers, and will not reduce food waste. They say that while the elimination of food labels may not reduce food waste, "Customer education will," says Stephen Robertson, director general of the British Retail Consortium. "Date labels are there to help customers but they need to understand what they mean."
What are your thoughts on these labels? Do you understand them? And are they the key in reducing food waste?
10 comments:
Wow, I've never really realized that the "sell by" and "best before" labels had different meanings between them. With so much hunger in the world, I hate the thought of wasting food and I think that customers should be better educated on the meanings of such labels. I'm also disgusted with the amount of food that restaurants tend to waste too. I think restaurants should pay better attention to the amount of food a their customers usually finish, and then create servings that around that size. Also, what is the point of filling someone's glass with water at the end of the meal? That is not courteous, that is wasteful. Smaller serving sizes and better training will help America not only fight wastefulness but obesity as well.
Fun Fact: The color of the plastic tab on packages of bread tell you when the bread was baked.
http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljai45vXYV1qz6f9yo1_500.jpg
Don't worry, I didn't just learn this from Tubmlr, I saw it on the news too.
-Sandy Frank
I am definitely one of the one-third that believes that products past its "best before" date should be thrown away. That's a huge shock to me to find out that foods can be eaten past the date shown (that is correct, right? Just making sure I read the article correctly haha) because most people that I know throw away products past the date labeled. And the fact that we waste that much food is disturbing...especially when there's so much poverty in the world and so many people who can't afford meals. I think these labels are confusing and should have a clearer message to avoid confusion. Either the labels should just change for a more direct message on when products should be thrown out or there should be more available information about the shelf life and what the labels mean. It may not abolish all food waste, but it would definitely help. I mean if 8.3 trillion tons of food just in the UK are thrown away unnecessarily, imagine the total amount of food thrown out by the WORLD due to confusion.
my pet peeve has always been throwing out something that is still edible. if its already in my pantry, the only way that food's going to waste is if i see mold or have a taste or smell that its spoiled, otherwise the only way is in my stomach.
I think i take it to an extreme. but in today's world, we get too paranoid on how healthy or food is, and forget how lucky we are to even have food that is abundant, safe to eat, and readily available.
-Raymond Lim11
I absolutely hate it when my mom stops me from taking the first bite on something that JUST expired (like a day ago). As Ray said, as long as there isn't mold on it or it doesn't stink, it's still good.
The "sell by" and "display until" tags are definitely confusing to me as well. Like is it bad after that date or does it start to get bad after that date? My family always takes it for just not edible after the tagged date. But i think the government's intervention will definitely cut food waste.
I saw a documentary a few years ago about this grocery store selling old meat. Some guy would imprint a stamp that isn't entirely noticeable on the bottom of the styrofoam container that would be holding the meat. He would record the date and return to the grocery store on the expired date and find the same stamped meat with a new date!!! So that's just something that should be looked into after making stores change their dates because they might just want to cheat in order to increase profit and make up for the loss in confusing consumers.
It just comes to show how many customers are ignorant these days. This is probably the case in countries around the world, and people really need to realize how much they can save the environment. Personally, I think that these terms should be taught somewhere within school... somehow. This would be extremely beneficial to the next generation of customers and would immensely reduce waste. As for now and changing the labels, it is good to make it more obvious for people to understand the terms regarding food life and such. But there will probably always be some people who won't understand it and which will still lead to unnecessary waste.. And so I believe these terms should definitely be taught in school. Or at least, make it a requirement for people to learn about these terms. Or encourage and make people strive to understand them. It only takes a couple seconds to understand these terms. And by just taking a couple seconds out of people's time, an extremely large portion of waste easily be eliminated.
The "sell by" and "best before" dates are definitely misleading labels that cause confusion. With the current flow of information, consumers buy and follow labels as they are told, and without the proper knowledge of the purpose of the "sell by" and "best before" dates, consumers will misinterpret these labels as indicators of when food spoils.
Personally, I only use the "sell by" and "best before" labels as suggestions and indicators of when I should pay more attention to the quality of the food. Like Ray and Immanuel, I usually only toss my food when it smells spoiled, looks unusual, or begins to grow mold.
The "use by" label seems more straight forward. I think the "use by" label would serve a better purpose because many consumers are misinterpreting the current labels.
I know that part of the problem with wasting food is buying too much of it. In superstores like Super Wal-Mart and Costco, we buy bigger portions of food because it is technically more food for less money. However, we will be wasting food AND money if we don't finish what we buy.
For example, if a family wants milk, we might buy the gallon container at Costco rather than the quart container at Target or Safeway simply because the Costco one is cheaper for the amount given. Ergo, we get more bang for our buck. However, many times we don't consume all of the milk and end up throwing it away at a premature date, therefore wasting food. Even some people SEE the "sell by" date, interpret it as a due date, smell the milk, and THINK that the milk smells bad because their brain is telling them that the milk has gone sour.
I agree with Chris Chan that basic consumer information skills should be taught in school. I would also advocate a change in the way labels are printed. Only one date really matters to me: the expiration date ("use by"); all I really need to know is if my food is safe to eat.
I find it incredibly vexing when I read an unlabeled date on a food product and have to guess what it stands for; I usually just treat it as the expiration date. Anyway, I think that a combination of clear labeling and consumer education are needed to cut down on food waste.
This type of education doesn't belong in school. This simply isn't the appropriate place for it. There are hundreds of things about life people ought to know that can't be taught in school. Plus, how would that be standardized? What test does that go on? Maybe in a health class, but honestly I don't remember anything I learned in that class.
Rather than schools, this information should be avaliable in the stores. THE STORES. Plenty of time to read a bold sign reminding customers of the difference between the terms while you're waiting in the checkout aisle. There's no business motive for people buying a wasteful amount of food.
I don't really think that changing the labels is going to create a significant change in the amount of food that is being wasted. Because most people are too accustomed to reading “best before” labels, they would simply interpret “Use by” as being roughly equivalent in meaning. It would definitely require a long period of time for people to get used to this change, mainly because it isn't a very drastic change to the way food products are labeled. In fact, I think that a vast majority of the people that buy products with the new label will look at the date but neglect to read the printing above it. Labels don't matter much to me because I always consume food long before it reaches the “date” that it is labeled with. However, I can understand that most of the general population tends to stock up on surplus food, which inevitability lead to difficulties in keeping track of expiration dates. These dates will definitely play a part in reducing food waste, but it is not going to significantly do much until people learn how to interpret the labels. Perhaps public awareness programs could be created to complement these new rules.
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