Daily Focus is backing an award-winning charity’s campaign calling on UK supermarkets to remove ‘use-by’ dates on a range of fresh food products.
In an open letter to the country’s biggest grocery chains, Affordable Food Stoke says items like fruit, vegetables and salad should be labelled up differently preventing excessive amounts of food waste.
It is also setting up a petition calling on the Government to change the law to eradicate the need for use-by dates on these products to prevent so many ending up in landfill.
It says a precedent was set last year when many supermarkets changed use-by dates on milk and other dairy products to ‘best before’.
The charity, which last year provided the equivalent of 157,687 meals in Stoke-on-Trent, is now issuing a rallying call through Daily Focus to companies and other organisations around the country to back its campaign and to lobby the supermarkets and the Government for action.
Affordable Food Stoke, based in Blurton, was set up in 2017 by husband-and-wife team Duane and Nikki Barrett.
Supported by 31 volunteers, it works to reduce food waste and support communities through initiatives including emergency food parcels and a free food hub, which people can access and take what they need.
However, due to the labelling situation, the charity finds it is regularly left with 50kg or more of ‘use-by’ dated food that it cannot give away.
Duane said the issue is made worse because supermarkets regularly release unsold fresh food items to charities on the evening of their use-by dates, making it very difficult to distribute them.
He said: “We feel this is an issue that affects the whole of the UK, and in the current climate of financial instabilities perfectly good food is being needlessly wasted because it has a use-by date attached to it.
“There is no reason for fresh produce such as salads, vegetables and fruit to be packaged in single-use plastic with a use-by date.
“But the law states that it cannot be distributed past the date, generating food waste and taking away food from families that need it.”
Addressing supermarkets directly, the letter says: “As a food waste charity based within the heart of Stoke-on-Trent we are seeing more and more good healthy food wasted in 2024 because of your use of a ‘use-by’ date on products that don’t need it. Products such as fruit, vegetables, and salad (also, all in single-use plastic).
“It is not uncommon (sadly) that we have had over 50kg of ‘use-by’ dated food that we cannot use, food that could have helped and supported the community.
“Just last year M&S removed the ‘use-by’ date on their milk, Morrisons followed suit, and Tesco pledged to remove the ‘use by’ date on over 30 of their dairy products in order to ‘remove excessive food waste’, and as much as this was a brilliant and bold move, sadly it is not enough.
“There is a huge amount of positive work being carried out, bridging the gap between supermarkets and charities, reducing food waste, creating positive relationships, and we ourselves alone have collected and distributed over 65,867kg (the equivalent of 158,324 meals) worth of food since 2023, but there is still so much more to be done.”
Affordable Stoke, which was named Team of the Year and Business in the Community (Charity) at Staffordshire University’s Business Awards in 2023, is now asking people to back its campaign on social media by using the hashtag #feedbelliesnotbins
Duane added: “We are calling on all charities, organisations, businesses, and councils to back this campaign, sign the petition, come on board, and to lobby where possible.
“This isn’t just an issue for us here at Affordable Food Stoke – it’s an issue for us all, and together we can make a difference.”
To sign the petition, click here.
For more details on food safety and the differences between use-by and best before, please look at the Food Standards Agency guidance by cicking here.
