Ons voedsel is steeds duurzamer. Scharrelvlees, EKO-melk en Tony’s Chocolonely. Toch verdwijnt de helft van dat duurzame voedsel ergens in de keten. Welke aanpassingen in de keten tussen veld en producent helpen die derving te verminderen?
Een van de redenen voor derving is de consument die, net als ik, achterin het koelvak of schap zoekt naar het product met de meest ‘verse’ uiterste verkoopdatum. Dan weet je zeker dat het thuis ook nog enkele dagen in de koelkast houdbaar is.
De BBC bericht vandaag over de Engelse initiatieven om de uiterste verkoopdatum van producten te halen en te verkopen door bijvoorbeeld een ‘het beste te gebruiken voor’-datum en bovendien consumenten beter voor te lichten over de betekenis van die data op de verpakking. Consumenten gaan er, vaak ten onterechte, vanuit dat de uiterste verkoopdatum meteen ook betekent dat het product niet meer gegeten kan worden.
‘Food sell-by dates are to be removed in a bid to cut waste and save shoppers money, ministers have announced. The UK throws away £12bn of edible food each year and critics say confusing packaging is partly to blame.
Defra is advising manufacturers to only include use-by and best-before dates and remove sell-by and display-until labels, which relate to stock rotation. But the British Retail Consortium said a better approach would be to educate people on what the dates mean.
Defra says five million tonnes of edible food is discarded by UK households annually – the equivalent to £680 for a household with children.
Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: “We want to end the food labelling confusion and make it clear once and for all when food is good and safe to eat.
“This simpler and safer date labelling guide will help households cut down on the £12 billion worth of good food that ends up in the bin.”
Under the guidance, foods likely to require a use-by date – meaning they could become dangerous to eat – include soft cheese, ready-prepared meals and smoked fish.
Foods likely to require only a best-before date – meaning they may lose quality but are still safe to consume – include biscuits, jams, pickles, crisps and tinned foods. But stock rotation information – such as sell-by dates – should be removed from packaging altogether, says the government, as it is this which confuses some shoppers. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is also backing the new advice.
“A number of different dates can be found on our food, so we need to make sure that everyone knows the difference between them,” said the FSA’s Liz Redmond.
“We always emphasise that use-by dates are the most important, as these relate to food safety.”
The guidance was produced in consultation with food manufacturers, supermarkets, trade associations, consumer groups and the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP). However, the British Retail Consortium said the government was tackling the problem of food waste in the wrong way.
Food Director Andrew Opie said a better approach would be to educate consumers so they are clear on the difference between best-before and use-by dates. ”Helping consumers understand that food past its best-before date can still be eaten or cooked could contribute to reducing food waste and saving people money,” he said. ”The government should be spreading that message, not focusing on retail practices.”
Tags: agrologistiek, derving, food, levensmiddelen, vers
