The decision by supermarket giant Morrisons to remove use-by dates from milk packaging to avoid food wastage is welcome news for the dairy industry, according to Eden-based Robert Craig, vice-chairman of the Royal Association of British Dairy Farmers.
From the end of this month, the retailer will replace use-by dates with best before dates on 90 per cent of its own brand milk and encourage customers to use a “sniff test” to check the quality of these products.
Use-by dates are about food safety and should not be exceeded, whereas best before dates are about food quality, meaning the food will be safe to eat after this date but might not be at its best.
The retailer hopes the move will save millions of pints from being thrown away unnecessarily each year, with milk the third most wasted food and drink product in the UK, after potatoes and bread.
According to Mr Craig, who is based at Armathwaite, the supermarket’s decision is good news for the industry.
“A lot of effort goes into milk production and anything we can do to minimise its waste is welcomed,” he said.
“In the UK we are only about 77 per cent self-sufficient in milk production, so reducing waste will go some way to help improve food security and reduce food miles.
“There are also environmental benefits by reducing milk wastage, Mr Craig pointed out.
He said: “It takes eight litres of water to produce one litre of milk or 158 litres of tap water to produce one litre of almond drink — so, if we can prevent 490 million pints from going down the drain, that equates to circa two billion litres of water saved.”
The carbon footprint of a litre of British milk is less than half the global average, with the dairy industry responsible for less than two per cent of the UK’s total emissions.
Mr Craig hopes more retailers will follow the lead of Morrisons by replacing use-by dates with best before dates on milk and some dairy products, and calls on the supermarkets to educate consumers on the different labelling terminology.
He added: “It is also important they explain what the terms mean. Just because something has passed its best before date, it doesn’t mean it needs to be binned.”
According to the recycling charity Wrap, 490 million pints of milk are tipped away in the UK each year.
