Waitrose to remove ‘best before’ dates on fresh fruit and veg products
Waitrose is to remove best before dates on nearly 500 fresh products including citrus fruits, salad items, vegetables and indoor plants as part of plans to help customers reduce food waste.
Instead of referring to specified best before dates on their food packs, customers will be invited to use their own judgement before consuming their items.
Marija Rompani, director of sustainability and ethics at John Lewis Partnership, explained: “UK households throw away 4.5 millions tonnes of edible food every year, meaning that all the energy and resources used in food production is wasted.
“By removing best before dates from our products, we want our customers to use their own judgement to decide whether a product is good to eat or not, which in turn, will increase its chances of being eaten and not becoming waste.”
Meanwhile ‘use by’ dates will still be in place across Waitrose products for safety reasons.
Waitrose has been working with the WRAP waste resources and action programme on the move, which builds on its existing commitment to help customers reduce their food waste by 2030.
Catherine David, director of collaboration and change at WRAP, said: “Best before dates on fruit and veg are unnecessary and create food waste because they get in the way of people using their judgement when food is still good to eat. We are absolutely delighted by this move from Waitrose which will help stop good food ending up in the bin.”
