M&S removes best before dates as 6.6m tonnes of food waste thrown away by households per year
M&S will get rid of best before dates on hundreds of fresh produce in an endeavour to slash food waste in stores and households.
The supermarket said it would remove best before dates from the labelling on more than 300 fruit and vegetable packages.
Dates are to be replaced with a new code that shop staff will use to judge freshness and quality.
The firm was “determined to tackle food waste”, according to Andrew Clappen, M&S director of food technology, said.
“To do that, we need to be innovative and ambitious – removing best before dates where safe to do so, trialling new ways to sell our products and galvanising our customers to get creative with leftovers and embrace change,” he added.
The changes will be introduced from this week, with supermarket bosses hoping it will discourage shoppers from throwing away food when it is not necessary to do so.
UK households throw away approximately 6.6m tonnes of food waste a year, according to the charity Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP).