How millions of tons of food are needlessly being binned because of Best Before ...

Faced with a slightly green and furry block of cheddar in the fridge, do you bin it? Or cut the ugly bits off, and pop the remainder in a sandwich?

As a food scientist, I know all too well the dangers of bacteria that can lurk in food that has gone off. But I also know it’s perfectly safe to eat cheese that just looks off.

Last week’s news from the British Meat Processors Association laboratories that beef and lamb may last far longer than usual use-by dates – up to seven weeks after production – doesn’t surprise me either.

Modern packaging keeps meat fresher for longer, as long as it is stored correctly. Likewise, if I notice my eggs are a week past their best-before date, I’m not concerned because I know the simple way to tell if they’re still OK. It’s a common-sense approach but I’m aware that, increasingly, I’m in the minority.

Mountains – about 7.3 million tons, – of fruit and vegetables, bread and dried goods are also binned because the packet says they would have been better a day or two earlier (stock image)

Mountains – about 7.3 million tons, – of fruit and vegetables, bread and dried goods are also binned because the packet says they would have been better a day or two earlier (stock image)

Far more common is what has been dubbed ‘best-before paranoia’ – a growing obsession about perceived food freshness which is leading to vast amounts of edible food going to waste each year.

More than 720 million eggs are needlessly thrown away every year in the UK just because they have passed their official ‘best-before’ dates, according to recent research released by the food waste app Too Good To Go.

Mountains – about 7.3 million tons, – of fruit and vegetables, bread and dried goods are also binned because the packet says they would have been better a day or two earlier.

What those labels mean and why we have them 

According to the 1996 EU Food Labelling Directive, perishable foods such as dairy products, fish and meat have to be given use-by dates, giving a strict cut-off point when food can be eaten. It is illegal to sell food past this date in the UK. 

The date is based on thresholds set by the European Food Safety Agency for bacteria before they reach levels that cause food poisoning.

Best-before dates must be given for non-perishable foods such as dried and tinned food but it’s not illegal to sell these foods past this date, except for eggs.

Best-before dates can be pretty vague too – a date can be given as a day, a month and a year; a month and a year; or even just a year.

The length of time a best-before date gives is also not set by law, and is left up to manufacturers to decide.

Trading Standards officers do carry out spot checks to ensure that manufacturers and producers are following guidelines, and firms can be fined for ‘food labelling’ offences.

Such is the concern that the Government has already begun an initiative to reduce by half what it calls ‘avoidable household food’ waste, and supermarkets – including Tesco – have begun to remove best-before dates in an attempt to tackle the problem.

Food labelling was introduced in Britain in 1980. Before that, we all just smelled meat, or had a sip of milk, to see if they were off.

Best-before dates are not about safety but quality. Food producers, who want to ensure that consumers get their food when it is at its best, devise these using a variety of criteria which may be tests in the laboratory, mathematical modelling or just based on experience.

Display-until or sell-by dates are also used by supermarkets and food shops to rotate their stock so they know when food is past its prime.

Use-by dates, on the other hand, are strict cut-off times for foods that go off quickly, such as meat products, fish, dairy food and bagged salads. If you ignore these, you could end up with a nasty dose of food poisoning.

But even then, there is no hard-and-fast rule: food can spoil before its ‘use-by’ date if it’s left out of the fridge, for example.

Pregnant women, babies and the elderly, and those with health conditions that compromise the immune system, should never take risks. But the truth is, it IS possible to safely eat many foods well after their ‘expiry’ date.

So how do you tell if food is fresh without relying on the label?

To try to give some answers, we assessed a weekly shop, bought on April 16, 2019 – and suggest how long it may be safe to eat, despite what it may say on the label.

Eggs can stay fresh for months without needing to be kept in the fridge. An easy way to check if they are still edible is to pop them in a bowl of water

Eggs can stay fresh for months without needing to be kept in the fridge. An easy way to check if they are still edible is to pop them in a bowl of water

EGGS

Best Before: May 4, 2019

New date: June 4, 2019

Due to their shell, eggs can stay fresh for months without needing to be kept in the fridge.

The Food Standards Agency has said eggs can be safely eaten up to two days past the date shown, as long as they are cooked to the point the yolk and the white are solid. But this is a cautious estimate.

In many cases, fresh eggs are edible three to four weeks beyond the best-before date normally stamped on the carton.

How can I test to see if an egg is still fresh? 

If it floats don't eat the egg, but if it sinks you can have it

If it floats don't eat the egg, but if it sinks you can have it

Want to know if an egg is fresh? Simply put it, uncracked, in a bowl of water. 

If it floats it is full of air which suggests it is no longer good to eat. 

When eggs start to go off, the contents produce gas. The egg is still good to eat if it stands on one end, above right, at the bottom of the bowl. 

If it sinks to the bottom and lies flat on its side, it is very fresh. 

An easy way to check that eggs are still edible is to pop them in a bowl of water. See the panel, below right, for details.

BEEF STEAK

Use By: April 24, 2019

New date: April 25, 2019

How long you can keep red meat safely before eating depends on the type of meat and how it is packaged and stored. Make sure it is kept at ideally -1C to -2C, but definitely below 5C.

Typically you can eat whole cuts of beef (rather than mince, which perishes far faster) between five to 16 days after you buy it.

This is helpful if you buy your meat from a stall or independent butcher who doesn’t have to provide use-by labels. But if there is a use-by date, eat no later than 24 hours after that date. After this meat will quickly spoil, which makes the decision easy to make.

Meat that has gone off takes on a brown or grey colour and a dull appearance. Hold it close to your nose and it will smell unpleasant. If you start cooking it and it smells nasty, just chuck it immediately without tasting.

As last week’s study suggested, vacuum-packed meat may last longer because there is no air to allow the proliferation of microbes, and this slows decomposition.

Typically you can eat whole cuts of beef (rather than mince, which perishes far faster) between five to 16 days after you buy it

Typically you can eat whole cuts of beef (rather than mince, which perishes far faster) between five to 16 days after you buy it

CHICKEN FILLETS

Use By: April 19, 2019

New date: April 20, 2019

Even when kept in a refrigerator, raw poultry will only be fit to eat one day after its use-by date. Never eat chicken that is more than 24 hours past its use-by date, and only go past this date at all if the chicken has been kept chilled.

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