An app that connects consumers to unsold discounted food has launched a new labelling scheme to instruct Canadians on how to test out food past its best-before date.
The best-before date printed on the packaging of foods and beverages is not tied to whether or not the product can be safely consumed, despite the popular misconception that they signify expiry.
Many products may still be consumed past the best-before date, just don’t expect them to be as good as they once were
Those dates are determined by the product’s manufacturer and are instead representative of the product’s peak quality.
The Too Good to Go app saw an opportunity in this confusion, launching a new labelling design to help Canadians reduce their waste.
The “Look-Smell-Taste” label will be on the packaging of 15 different food brands found at the grocery stores to remind consumers they may still be able to enjoy their products past the best-before date.
Cracker Barrel, Epic Tofu, Greenhouse, Kopi Thyme and Ristorante are among the brands slated to begin brandishing the “Look-Smell-Taste” label on June 18.
The label was launched in Europe in 2019, with more than 500 brands circulating it on over six billion products last year.
“We always say our competition is the bin,” said Too Good To Go’s Canadian director Andrea Li. “When we look, we smell, we taste, we’re making a good judgement. And we know that things are still edible and that best-before dates are very much an indicator of freshness versus food safety.”
The company was created in Denmark in 2016 and has since expanded to 18 countries worldwide, saving an estimated five million meals from going to waste.
“Food waste is at every stage of the value chain, so the technology we’ve built is just one step. And I think this part is really exciting because education goes so much further when we’re able to empower folks to make the decisions themselves in a very informed and educated way. Hence, together with the partners that we’re bringing on, I believe that our reach can be so much stronger and go so much further,” said Li.
The UN Food Waste Index Report 2024 revealed that at least one billion meals are wasted by households globally, every single day.
Almost 60% of all food produced in Canada is wasted or lost, according to research from Second Harvest, and it’s predominantly households that make up the 35.5 million tonnes of wasted food.
Research from Too Good To Go found that 92% of Canadians rely on best-before dates when consuming foods.
Almost half of Canadians, 40%, throw out at least one item per week due to being a past-dated item, despite 50% of Canadians admitting they didn’t know that the best-before date wasn’t the product’s expiration date.
“For generations, people trusted their senses to tell if food was good to eat or not. “Best Before” dates, though well intentioned, are a source of confusion across the supply chain as people misunderstand them as food safety dates when in actual fact, these dates only refer to peak freshness,” said Craig Hodge, chair of the National Zero Waste Council.
“These Best Before date labels contribute to perfectly good food being thrown away in processing, at restaurants, in supermarkets, and at home.”
This is certainly not the time to waste food as grocery prices are expected to rise between 2.5% and 4.5% this year, according to the 2023 Canada Food Price Report, adding an additional $700 to Canadian families’ annual grocery bill.
A family with two parents and two children can expect an average bill of $16,297.20 for groceries in 2024.