Tesco Removes Fruit and Veg ‘Best Before’ Dates

The UK’s largest supermarket has revealed plans to remove “best before” dates from more than 100 of its fruit and vegetable lines, as it strives to meet a target to halve its food waste output by 2025.

Tesco announced October 8th that it would begin removing “best before” dates from a further 116 of its produce products, after removing them from around 70 lines earlier this year.

Apples, cabbages and asparagus are among the products which will be affected, after the move proved successful for potatoes, citrus fruits and tomatoes.

Tesco’s head of food waste, Mark Little, explained that the move will lessen confusion among customers who do not understand the difference between ‘best before’ dates, which indicate that the quality of a product may deteriorate, and ‘use by’ dates, which indicate when it becomes less safe to consume the food.

WRAP estimates that around 600,000 tonnes of consumer food waste are triggered each year due to the misunderstanding.

The move comes after research carried out by marketing agency Walnut Unlimited on behalf of Tesco found that 69% of consumers would welcome a switch to products without “best before” dates.

Of the 2,010 survey respondents, more than half (53%) said that they would keep food for longer if it did not carry a “best before” label.

Source: edie.net