Morrisons scraps use-by dates on milk
The big four supermarket will instead advise customers to carry out a ‘sniff test’ on fresh milk in order to work out if it’s has gone off or is still useable.
Changes will apply to Morrisons’ own-brand British and Scottish milks, Morrisons For Farmers milks and Morrisons organic milks in store. Milk supplied into the supermarket by Arla, Morrisons South West and The Best Jersey are yet to be converted.
Environmental impact
Morrisons senior milk buyer Ian Goode said the changes would reduce impact on the environment – wasted milk meant wasted effort by producers and unnecessary carbon being released into the atmosphere.
“Good quality well-kept milk has a good few days life after normal ‘use by’ dates – and we think it should be consumed, not tipped down the sink,” he added.
“So, we’re taking a bold step today and asking customers to decide whether their milk is still good to drink. Generations before us have always used the sniff test – and I believe we can too.”
The removal of use-by dates followed a commitment by Morrisons to reduce food waste in stores by 50% by 2030. The supermarket has already scrapped use-by dates on some of its own-label yogurt and hard cheeses in 2020.
First steps
Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) chief executive Marcus Gover said the move to scrap use-by dates was an important step to help reduce household food waste and looked forward to other food companies following the supermarket’s example.
“Making improvement to labelling forms an important parts of WRAP’s efforts under the Courtauld Commitment 2030 to reduce household food waste,” he continued.
“It is fantastic to see Morrisons, as a Courtauld signatory, making this change – giving people the confidence to use their judgement and consumer more of the milk they buy.”
Meanwhile, Marcel Koks, Industry & Solution Strategy Director for Food & Beverage at Infor, urged manufacturers to address the customer confusion around use-by dates in order to prevent food waste.
