I have just been interviewed on BBC Three Counties Radio by Jonathan Vernon-Smith on his consumer show (10th August 2009) about Best Before and Use by Dates. The thorny issue at the moment is that we are wasting too much food, throwing stuff away that is perfectly edible. The Government is concerned about it and there are discussions underway about what should be done.
Best before dates are used for foods that have a long shelf-life – frozen foods, canned foods, shelf stable items such as cereals, biscuits and crisps. With these foods, the date relates more to the quality of the food rather than the safety, and exceeding the date is neither harmful nor against the law if it is sold. In these circumstances, consumers with foods past these dates can usually be sure that the foods are not going to poison them after the expiry of the date. Eggs, on the other hand should not be consumed after the expiry of the best-before date as the composition of the egg changes, allowing growth of Salmonella (if present).
Use -by dates are another issue altogether, and should not be exceeded. It is a criminal offence to sell foods or have them on the premises for sale after the expiry of the use by date. These dates are determined by manufacturers to ensure that food is safe to consume. They are given as a result of microbiological testing regimes to show safe periods of time for foods held at the recommended temperatures. There may of course be some tolerance, but the idea that the consumer is equipped to tell whether the food is safe after the expiry date is a ludicrous proposition.
Certainly, milk’s off flavour and smell is a good enough warning not to drink it, but pate and cooked ham could look and smell perfectly OK whilst harbouring dangerous food poisoning organisms that may have been allowed to proliferate even under refrigeration. Bacteria such as Listeria monocytogenes can cause not only food poisoning but also miscarriage in pregnant women, and other serious complications. These organisms have been found in pre-washed salads, ready-meals, pates, cooked meats and soft cheeses. They do not develop any tell-tale signs of their presence in food.
The other issue here is that the consumer may not have kept the food in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions anyway, thus increasing the risks: how did the food get home? Was it bought at lunch time, left in a hot office under the desk, taken home on the tube and then put in a fridge that was operating at a temperature of about 8oC? Further, was the packet opened and the food left for longer than the recommended time after opening – all these factors could lead to problems, and give opportunistic bacteria time to multiply.
Many cases of food poisoning are not reported or identified, and often the last thing people blame is themselves! But a “dodgy tummy,” “tummy upset,” “ bug going round” or even “food poisoning from a take away” may in fact be self-inflicted poisoning due to unsafe food storage in the home.
So in a bid to simplify things, what could be a better alternative? Maybe “best before” needs to be something like “best quality before” so that the consumer knows they will not be poisoned if they eat the food after the recommended date, and “use by” should be changed to “safe until.” Stores using “display until” and “sell by” as information for internal stock rotation may also need to think about how confusing this can be for the consumer and come up with something else.
One other issue is that people are being encouraged to buy too much food with BOGOFFS (buy one get one free) and three for the price of two deals. To take advantage of these deals but reduce wastage freezing can be an option, or use the food as an ingredient in recipe for freezing. So long as this is done carefully (i.e. freeze on day of purchase) and then defrost properly (either in the fridge overnight in a deep dish if meat or poultry or in the microwave just before cooking), then there is no problem, and less wastage. Maybe what we need is a “don’t waste food but stay safe cook book” – now there’s a job for my spare time…..
I hope that changes to date labelling will not inadvertently reduce consumer choice – a ban of best before dates, for example would give us no idea of how old foods are, and make stock rotation impossible. Even an informed consumer can’t make a risk assessment without that crucial information.
For further information on food labels go to:
http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/foodlabels/labellingterms/
