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Yorkshire’s Understanding Of Food Labels Past Its Best

Report Reveals That The Region’s Understanding Of Food Labels Is Past Its Best.

Yorkshire’s Approved Food Behind #PerfectlyGood Campaign To Drive Down Food Waste

A staggering 60% of people in Yorkshire who admit to throwing away food nearing or on its best-before-date do so for fear of getting ill, according to a survey carried out by leading online retailer Approved Food.

The recently released report also showed that almost 30% of the region’s population have previously confused best-before-dates with use-by-dates – with over two-thirds of participants throwing away food approaching or on its best-before-date without even checking the quality first.

Now, in a bid to tackle the ‘unsurprising’ lack of understanding caused by ‘confusing’ food labelling, Sheffield-based Approved Food is spearheading awareness raising campaign #PerfectlyGood in a bid to help drive down the UK’s food waste and save the nation £50m in the process.

Dan Cluderay, the founder of Sheffield-based Approved Food - which is best known for selling products that are nearing or past their best-before-date - said: “There is a lot of misunderstanding around food labelling and it can be confusing. People are puzzled by what ‘best before’ and ‘use by’ actually mean, never mind largely obsolete labels such as ‘display-until’, ‘sell-by’ and ‘expiry-date’.

“Is it any wonder people get themselves in a pickle and throw away what is #PerfectlyGood to eat? It’s leading to unsustainable food waste levels - 7 million tonnes of food is wasted in Britain alone every single year - and something needs to be done about it!”

The campaign also looks to address further findings of the survey which revealed that 56.8% of people in the UK - a whopping 62.5% of people in Yorkshire - would be persuaded to buy food after its best-before-date if they ‘knew it would be safe to eat’.

Dan said: “Best-before-dates are an indication of quality, food eaten after this date will be perfectly good to eat however its quality may have started to deteriorate. Imagine a slightly less crunchy crisp, for example.

“However, use-by dates are an indication of safety and food should never be eaten once it has passed this date. Dairy, meat etc.

“It’s vital to make sure people understand food dates and labelling and we want to make sure people are thinking before they throw food away.

“That’s why we are investing everything we’ve got in our new #PerfectlyGood campaign in a bid to raise awareness of the difference between best-before and use-by-dates in a bid to reduce waste and save the UK £50m and we’re urging the people of Yorkshire to get behind us!”

Approved Food, founded in 2008, is the largest online-only retailer of short-dated and residual stock food and drinks - working with food manufacturers and suppliers to provide an alternative route to market for stock that would otherwise end up in landfill – to date a staggering 32million items.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Steel .