Ocado axes ‘best before’ label on some fruit and vegetables to reduce food waste

On-line grocer Ocado is to scrap ‘finest earlier than’ labels on some fruit and greens in an effort to eradicate meals waste.

The transfer is predicted to avoid wasting 1000’s of tons of edible meals from being needlessly thrown away, by permitting prospects to make use of their very own judgment as to when one thing continues to be good to eat.

And the choice is one other main enhance to The Mail on Sunday’s Struggle On Meals Waste marketing campaign, which was launched final June with the purpose of slicing by 30 per cent the quantity of meals being dumped in bins by households every week.

Ocado will launch the initiative on Tuesday for objects in its contemporary produce vary, together with apples, pears and citrus fruits.

The transfer is predicted to avoid wasting 1000’s of tons of edible meals from being needlessly thrown away, by permitting prospects to make use of their very own judgment as to when one thing continues to be good to eat

A spokesman mentioned: ‘We have now eliminated one of the best earlier than date – an indicator of freshness – from plenty of our Ocado Personal Vary produce. That is to assist struggle meals waste and to encourage our prospects to make their very own resolution as to when a meals merchandise is previous its finest.’

The retailer has additionally signed as much as The Waste And Sources Motion Programme (WRAP) Courtauld Dedication 2025, a voluntary settlement to chop waste within the grocery sector.

Final yr an investigation by the MoS discovered households have been throwing away £900 million of completely good meals every year as a result of supermarkets had deceptive finest earlier than labels on fruit, greens and dairy merchandise.

A Authorities-backed report revealed in 2017 had referred to as on supermarkets to take away these labels ‘to encourage customers to make use of their judgment on when to eat contemporary produce, avoiding waste’. It added: ‘For uncut contemporary produce, apply “finest earlier than” solely the place that is judged to be crucial/helpful so as to assist customers eat – quite than waste – the product. For all different instances, don’t apply a date code.’ Exceptions have been made for merchandise which have a brief shelf life, comparable to strawberries, as a date can guarantee they’re eaten earlier than going off.

The MoS investigation masking Britain’s ten largest grocery store chains discovered that almost each one was failing to observe official tips on labelling.

Meals retailers have additionally been suggested since 2019 that milk, yogurt and different dairy merchandise can now present a ‘finest earlier than’ label quite than a ‘use by’ label, except there’s a meals security danger.

This recommendation is vital as a result of ‘finest earlier than’ refers back to the high quality of meals, that means it’s nonetheless suitable for eating when previous its finest. ‘Use by’ refers back to the security of meals, indicating it shouldn’t be eaten after that date. In January, Morrisons turned the primary grocery store to scrap ‘use by’ labels on milk in favour of ‘finest earlier than’.

Current statistics present Ocado had the bottom meals waste within the trade final yr, at 0.04 per cent. Different supermarkets reported waste ranges between two and 4 per cent.

To mark the second annual Meals Waste Motion Week, WRAP has referred to as on all massive supermarkets and retailers to go additional in eradicating pointless date labels.

A latest research by the charity revealed that promoting contemporary produce unfastened and eradicating date labels would stop 14 million buying baskets of meals from being wasted and take away the necessity for plastic that would fill 1,100 refuse lorries.

Marcus Gover, the charity’s chief government, mentioned: ‘WRAP analysis confirmed that eliminating finest earlier than dates on contemporary fruit and veg may help cut back the quantity of meals we throw away from our houses by a staggering 50,000 tons a yr, so we totally help Ocado’s transfer.

‘We’re delighted to have labored with them to take this vital step and are wanting ahead to extra supermarkets becoming a member of them and binning finest earlier than dates on contemporary uncut produce.’