Date labelling regime 'dilutes food safety messages', says report

04-Jul-2011 - Last updated on 06-Jul-2011 at 08:02 GMT

The current UK date labelling regime confuses food businesses, increases consumer risk by “diluting key food safety messages”, and costs industry millions of pounds a year.

These are the conclusions of a new report from UK government quango the Local Better Regulation Office (LBRO), Better Regulation of ‘Use By’ Date Coded Foods: A Business View”, which includes the views of prominent businesses and industry associations.

The report was presented to business minister Mark Prisk yesterday, and it recommends that prosecutions for selling products that have passed use by dates should only be pursued when “where genuine safety risks exist”.

Report chairman Harold Gay said: “The present use by date labelling regime leads to confusion for food businesses, and increases risks for consumers by diluting key food safety messages."

Genuine safety risk

The EU Food Labelling Directive 2000/13 provides for a use by date, “in the case of foodstuffs which, from the microbiological point of view, are highly perishable and are therefore likely after a short period to constitute an immediate danger to human health”.

Yet the UK Food Labelling Regulations 1996 go further, making it a criminal offence to sell, or offer to sell, food after its use by date. This is despite the fact that the EU Directive does not require Member States to impose such a prohibition.

Given that other UK laws make it an offence to sell unsafe food, the report concludes that the 1996 offences are unnecessary and lead to overly cautious industry behaviour. It added that the main criticism of use by dates from producers and retailers was high waste levels and resultant 'markdown' costs.

Industry players canvassed also said they believed use by dates were linked to product quality rather than product safety, and were not therefore needed for many products.

The report recommends that use by dates should only be used when food is “highly perishable” from a microbiological standpoint, and “likely after a short period to be an immediate danger to health”.

Remove current confusion

The authors also said that 5.3m tonnes of UK food waste per year needed to be cut, given its estimated £600m cost to industry. Gay said: “We feel that the waste of so much food every year presents an overwhelming moral cause to take action in its own right.”

The report calls upon the government to partner industry in developing product-specific guidance on use by dates, to complement forthcoming revised guidance from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Sarah Appleby, head of enforcement at the Food Standards Agency, said: “Use by dates are an important way for consumers to ensure that their food is safe to eat. The Agency is working with DEFRA, the LBRO and the food industry to identify how we can help consumers understand date markings on food, and remove current confusion about sell by and display until dates.

“We want to see food waste minimised, but we also need to ensure people do not take unnecessary risks with food safety.”