Brits are being encouraged to use the ‘sniff test’ as latest figures reveal one in five adults are eating food past it’s ‘use-by’ date.
Penny pinching pros at NetVoucherCodes.co.uk have shared their advice on what the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates are and the importance of the new sniff test.
Last year some major supermarkets announced they would be removing the ‘use by’ labels on certain foods in an attempt to reduce food waste.
However it has now been revealed that almost one in five Brits are consuming food past its use by date and experts are urging Brits to familiarise themselves with the sniff test to determine what food is still okay to consume.
When an item passes its best before date, it is not necessarily ‘out of date’ so Brits shouldn’t be too worried about this change.
In fact, this date is just a guideline for quality and freshness. It’s typically added by manufacturers and after this date has passed, the ‘best taste’ has gone.
Mitch Barnes, online consumer expert at NetVoucherCodes.co.uk said: “With the cost-of-living soaring, selected supermarkets are adapting their product labelling by removing the best before label.
“While it can massively help with food wastage problems, it can be quite confusing to suss out when they need to be used by and how people can tell if a food has gone off at home.
“We’re advising people to check the remaining labels and to use the sniff test at home to save the extra pennies on a weekly food shop bill.”
Here are NetVoucherCodes.co.uk’s top tips explaining the importance of different expiry date meanings:
Best before dates
Most labels have the best before dates on the packaging, usually two or three days before the use-by dates – this is usually put on by manufacturers. Once you’ve passed the use-by date, it doesn’t necessarily mean the product is inedible, but it’ll just lack the freshness it once had and it will essentially lose its ‘best taste’.
While they may be lacking in taste and texture, they’re still safe to eat for a limited time and can help to save extra cash during a food shop.
Use by dates
Use by dates are often confused with Best Before dates. The labelled use-by date on a product is a recommended time for how long you should use a product by.
Meat and fish products should not be consumed after the ‘use by’ date as there is a high chance that you’ll get food poisoning if you do. What you can do is freeze the meat before the expiry date for as long as nine months if it’s raw chicken.
Sniff test
This is the system being steadily introduced into supermarkets. If a milk carton was previously labelled as ‘best before 12 Sep 2022’, it’s likely to still have a few days of safe consumption afterwards.
You’ll be able to tell if your milk is off by the foul smell, so make sure to just give it the test instead of spending a fortune buying a fresh carton each time it goes beyond the labelled best before date.
