Sainsbury’s is swapping use-by dates for best-before dates across its own-brand milk range, in a bid to reduce food waste, which the supermarket giant says is one of its “top priorities”.
The roll out of the new labelling will begin in the new year, with changes set to be completed by the end of February 2024.
WRAP data highlights that milk is the third most wasted food in the UK, with over 490 million pints thrown away each year – often because it has passed its use-by date, but may still be fine to drink.
In total, the move will impact 44 products, including all fresh organic milk, and will apply to over 730 million pints sold by Sainsbury’s each year.
“Around a third of all food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted. Combatting food waste is one of our top priorities and we are continuously innovating to tackle this issue, all the way from farms and suppliers, right to our customers’ homes,” said Sainsbury’s corporate responsibility and sustainability director Ruth Cranston.
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“By switching to best-before dates on our milk we are empowering customers to make their own decisions on whether their food is good to eat, helping to prevent them from disposing of food too early.”
WRAP director of behaviour change and business programmes Catherine David said: “We are delighted to see this change from Sainsbury’s, which will help reduce food waste in our homes.”
“Wasting food feeds climate change and costs money – with the average family spending over £730 a year on good food which ends up in the bin. Our research shows applying the appropriate date label to products can help reduce the amount of good food that is thrown away.”
The supermarket’s decision to drop use-by labels from across its milk range follows recent moves by the Big 4 grocer to remove best-before dates from 1,500 products including pineapples, pumpkins and apples.
