On the packaging, use by dates grow on the waste. A white paper the question.
To reduce food waste, how to revise the expiration dates to make it a true indicator of health and sustainable reliable ? This is the question asked by a white paper which has just been published by the association France Nature Environment with the application of anti-waste ‘ Too good to go.
As the dates of consumption (DLC) or limits of the date of minimum durability (DDM) displayed on many food products correspond poorly to the real danger of the product if it is consumed after this date. Often, the foods that are marked as “consume preferably before…” are thrown away unnecessarily by the consumer and will participate in the food waste. While they do lose some of their properties (appearance, taste or texture), without presenting a risk to health.
suggestions
where the idea of this guide was published on the occasion of the third anniversary of the anti-food waste. “The choice of the legislator to use the name ‘Date of minimum Durability’ [or] ‘to consume preferably before the/end of’ for a date related to the quality of the product creates confusion for the consumer, which equates to a deadline not to exceed,” writes the report.
Your support is essential. Subscribe for $ 1 support Us
READ ALSO >> A lawyer to see the waste from a supermarket
The booklet contains recommendations. For example, work by industry, in order to align the expiration dates on of the flagship products by sub-sector, with the aim of reducing safety margins and extend the shelf life of the products. Or improve the quality of packaging to extend the shelf life. But still, simply, to change the wording to be closer to the wording in English, best before (best before…)
Call to(x) the correct meaning(s)
And why do not appeal to the reason of the buyers ? “It is time for consumers to trust their senses : the visual, the smell and the taste of the product,” insists Lucy Basch, founder of the app Too good to go, at Paris. “Take a county, if you buy it in a supermarket, it is accompanied by the DDM. If you go into a fromagerie, you rely on your senses. Proof that it knows how to do.”
Read our complete file
Fight against waste
expiry Dates, radius anti-gaspi… which will change soon in the supermarket, The bill’s anti-waste voted by the national Assembly Against waste, the Assembly voted for the creation of networks that the polluter pays,
The law against food waste, adopted on 3 February 2016, banned for large surfaces of more than 400 m2 of throwing food away and make their unsold unfit for consumption.