There are fresh calls to “shake up” Australia’s food labelling system to end confusion over “best-before” and “use-by” dates placed on groceries, but the food safety regulator has no plan to do so.
About one-third of all food is binned before its time, a new report has found, costing families thousands of dollars amid cost-of-living pressures.
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Uncertainty about expiration labels marked on products in fridges and pantries across the country is one of the key drivers of the problem, according to the research.
Use-by dates signal the last day a product is safe to eat while a “best-before” highlights peak quality and food should be safe past this point if not damaged or perished.
The report’s lead author, RMIT University associate professor Lukas Parker, said baffled families want “clear, consistent and easy-to-read information”.
“Date labels should be in a large font with contrasting colours so that they are easy to find and interpret,” he said.
Parker suggested vague “store in a cool, dry place” advice be replaced with “specific temperature guidelines for storage”.
“Particularly in a cost-of-living crisis, people need information on how to properly store and prolong the shelf life of food,” he said.
There has been plenty of research into Australia’s food waste dilemma.
ANZ’s August Food for Thought report found that Australian households alone discard about $8 billion worth of edible food every year.
More broadly, 7.6 million tonnes of food across supply chains is discarded annually, costing the economy about $36.6 billion.
OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn said international research “always points to confusion over date labels”.
“Extending use-by dates safely, as highlighted as one of the industry-led interventions in the National Food Waste Strategy, could see significant results across retail, hospitality, institutions and household food waste,” Kahn told 7NEWS.com.au.
Kahn said 78 per cent of Australians support reform of expiration labels “and we agree”, adding a “few small changes” and consumer education could make a big impact.
“Whilst many people said they understood the difference between use-by and best-before dates, they admitted to throwing out food on the expiry date – which more often than not will be still perfectly edible,” Kahn said.
“We fully support the report recommendations and are calling on the federal government to shake up the food labelling system and end consumer confusion over best-before and use-by dates.
“With the national goal to halve Australia’s food waste by 2030 fast looming, we need urgent action and change at all levels of society.”
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Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) sets out the legal requirements for food produced and imported for sale here, but enforcement of the code is the job of state and territory food regulatory agencies.
Under the code there are requirement to display date marks on food, and “suppliers are responsible for deciding” which one goes on their product.
The food safety regulator said it conducts an annual survey of 2000 adult consumers, gaining a feel for their perception of expiration dates.
Results show the majority of Australians and New Zealanders understand both labels, although up to one-third do not.
“FSANZ is not currently considering any changes to the requirements for date marking or storage conditions in the code,” a spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au.
Woolworths did not comment on the expiration label discussion, but said it works hard to minimise food waste on its end.
It also has advice on use-by dates and ways to reduce food waste at home on its website.
“Every one of our stores has a partnership with a local hunger relief organisation, passing on any food that can’t be sold, but is still safe to eat,” a Woolies representative told 7NEWS.com.au.
“We aim to only discard food that can’t be donated to charity, often for food safety reasons.
“Last year, we diverted 84 per cent of our supermarket food waste from landfill and donated the equivalent of 36 million meals to our hunger relief partners to help feed Australians in need.”
Coles was sought for comment.
‘Buy to eat, not store’
The RMIT study, conducted for End Food Waste Australia, found consumers were often unsure about a product’s freshness because date labels are commonly removed when the packaging was opened.
Parker’s tip was to buy to eat, rather than to store.
“Smaller, more frequent shops is a simple way to reduce your food waste,” he said.
“Having less food in our fridges and pantries means we’re more likely to use products quickly and throw less away.
“We all need to recognise that we waste food. Focus on what you do and what you can do next to reduce it.”
Nutrition scientist Kristen Beck said people are not always using commonsense, deciding to chuck food that has reached its best-before date rather than checking if it really needs to be binned.
“Use-by (dates), we need to pay attention to, serious attention, because from a safety point of view, once we’ve past the use-by date, time to chuck it out,” she told Sunrise.
“But best-before is much more of a guide and absolutely there’s still nutrition, there’s still value, there’s still safety in foods that are best-before.
“And when you really start looking at it, there are so many foods that are best before – I was even surprised myself.”