As the nation grapples with soaring fuel and food costs, making food go further and curbing food waste are just small steps in the right direction to accommodating reduced food budgets. Some supermarkets are scrapping best before dates and encouraging Brits to use the sniff test instead.
This involves shoppers relying on their sense of smell, instead of throwing away perfectly edible food. Money experts at NetVoucherCodes.co.uk have shared advice on the difference between use by and best before dates, and the importance of the new sniff test.
The change is being brought in by supermarkets in an attempt to tackle food waste following news of further food price increases for everyday essentials like dairy and vegetables.
Mitch Barnes, online consumer expert at NetVouchersCodes.co.uk said: “With the cost of living soaring, some supermarkets are adapting their product labelling by removing the best before label. While it can massively help with food wastage problems, it can be quite confusing to suss out when they need to be used by and how people can tell if a food has gone off at home.
“We are advising people to check the remaining labels and to use the sniff test at home to save the extra pennies on a weekly food shop bill.” Here are NetVouchersCodes.co.uk’s top tips explaining the importance of different expiry date meanings.
What is the best before date?
Most labels have the best before dates on the packaging, two or three days before the use-by dates, usually put on by manufacturers. This date is just a guideline for quality and freshness.
Food or drink consumed after this date has passed, is usually safe to eat for a limited time. However the quality may be impacted as the texture or flavour may be slightly stale.
What is the use by date?
Use by dates are often confused with best before dates. The labelled use by date on a product is a recommended time for how long you should use a product by.
Meat and fish products should not be consumed after the use by date as there is a high chance you will get food poisoning if you do. What you can do is freeze the meat before the expiry date for as long as nine months if it’s raw chicken.
What is the sniff test?
This is the system being steadily introduced into supermarkets. If a milk carton was previously labelled as ‘best before September 12 2022’, it is likely to still have a few days of safe consumption afterwards.
You will be able to tell if your milk has gone off by a sour, rancid smell, so make sure to just give it sniff the test instead of spending a fortune buying a fresh carton each time it goes beyond the labelled best before date.
