Aimee Walker
Morrisons has shared the reason it is getting rid of ‘use by’ dates on milk.
From the end of January, the labels will be replaced with a ‘best before’ on 90% of products.
The supermarket’s senior milk buyer told ITV News the move is to help reduce the amount of ‘wasted’ milk that is being unnecessarily binned.
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Ian Goode said: “Wasted milk means wasted effort by our farmers and unnecessary carbon being released into the atmosphere.
“Good quality well-kept milk has a good few days life after normal ‘use by’ dates – and we think it should be consumed, not tipped down the sink.
“So, we’re taking a bold step today and asking customers to decide whether their milk is still good to drink.
“Generations before us have always used the sniff test – and I believe we can too.” The ‘sniff test’ simply refers to smelling the milk to see if it still smells okay.
It’s believed that more than 490million pints are unnecessarily poured away each year and by using this new strategy, it’s hoped this amount will be significantly reduced.
According to the food charity Wrap, over 85million pints of milk are being ‘wasted,’ as people take the dates printed on the cartons for word. When actually, a lot of the time milk can still be consumed after its ‘use by’ date.
The charity released figures back in 2018 that revealed the UK wastes about 330,000 tonnes of milk every year, which is 7% of total production.
Wrap’s CEO, Marcus Gover, has also said he is ‘delighted’ by the chain’s move to make a better environment.
“I am delighted that Morrisons is the first UK supermarket to take this important step to help reduce household food waste.
“It shows real leadership and we look forward to more retailers reviewing date labels on their products and taking action.”
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