Latest news with #bestbefore
The Sun
6 days ago
- General
- The Sun
Secret code on fruit & veg will tell you how fresh they are – as ‘best before' dates stripped from 1,000s of products
Every year, Brits throw away 10.7million tonnes of food CRACK THE CODE Secret code on fruit & veg will tell you how fresh they are – as 'best before' dates stripped from 1,000s of products SUPERMARKETS have begun to strip 'best before' dates from many pre-packaged greens to help fight food waste. In the UK, the average household throws out nine pieces of fruit every week, which adds up to £468 in the bin every year. 3 Supermarkets have started to ditch best before dates on their fruits and veggies Credit: Alamy The best way to tell if your fruits and veggies are off is to go by what they look like, taste like, or smell like. But, if you've been left a little flustered by the change to packaging, experts have revealed a secret code to help you decipher how fresh your groceries are. It also means you can buy food with the longest life to make sure it makes it to your plate, rather than a bin. According to consumer site Which?, different supermarkets use their own secret codes to show when your food is still at its best – but you need to know what to look for. At Asda and Tesco, the key is a letter followed by a number. Each letter stands for a month – A for January, B for February, all the way to L for December. The number is the day of the month. So H22? That's August 22. Sainsbury's shoppers face a different puzzle. Their code starts with J, ends with S – a nod to founder John Sainsbury – with the date tucked in between. So J0904S means your item is good until April 9. Morrisons keeps things simple. Just the first letter of the month and the date – like O12 for 12 October. But watch out – June and July both start with 'J', which could cause a bit of a brain-fade in the fridge aisle. Which? warns: 'Food is usually perfectly edible after its best-before or sell-by date – it should be fine to eat if it looks and smells OK.' But with use-by dates, like on pre-cut fruit, it's a strict deadline: eat it by midnight, or risk getting ill. The scale of food waste in the UK A survey by Aldi of 2,000 Brits revealed the shocking truth: although a third of us want to eat more fruit and veg, over half admit they chuck too much of it away. The worst fruit offender? Bananas – with the average home tossing 115 a year. Tomatoes, mushrooms and even easy peelers aren't far behind. Nearly a quarter of people admit they never finish a bag of salad before binning it, while 57 percent don't actually know how to store fresh food properly. So next time you're in the fruit and veg aisle wondering whether those mushrooms are still good – check the code, not the label. As well as saving yourself some cash, you'll be doing good for the planet too. Every year, the UK throws away an eyewatering 10.7million tonnes of food - that's around 25 percent of all the food we buy. Whilst businesses aren't saints by any means, households alone contribute to over half of the food wastage in our country. It was revealed that 6.4million tonnes of food were thrown into kitchen bins in 2021 - and roughly 70 percent of that was perfectly edible. 3 Remember to check the codes on your veggie packaging Credit: Which?
Daily Mail
6 days ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
The secret code hidden on fruits and vegetables that tells you exactly how fresh they are
We're a nation obsessed with use–by dates. So a recent supermarket change – which saw 'best before' dates removed from many pre–packaged fresh fruit and vegetables – may have triggered a few meltdowns. Now, experts have revealed a secret code that can help decipher how fresh items are. According to consumer website Which?, it all depends on which supermarket you're in. At Asda and Tesco, look for a letter followed by a number, they say. 'A' refers to January, 'B' is February, 'C' is March and so on, while the number refers to the day of the month. So, for example, the best–before date of an item with the code J27 would be October 27. Those who prefer to shop at Sainsburys will have a different code to decipher, they revealed. These codes all begin with 'J' and end in 'S' – in reference to founder J Sainsbury – and contain the date in the middle. Therefore, an item with the code 'J0904S' will have a best–before date of April 9. Morrisons is probably the easiest to work out, they said, as the supermarket simply uses the first letter and day of the month. Therefore, a product with the code 'S27' has a best–before date of 27 September. This could potentially cause some confusion, however, as certain months such as June and July start with the same letter. 'Bear in mind that food is usually perfectly edible after its best–before or sell–by date – it should be fine to eat if it looks and smells OK,' their website reads. 'However, food with a use–by date, such as pre–cut fruit, must be eaten by midnight of its expiry date, or it could be unsafe.' The tips will hopefully help reduce food waste, which has become a major issue for households across the UK. A survey of 2,000 Brits, carried out by Aldi, found that while a third of us claim to have the best intentions to eat healthy fruits and vegetables, more than half admit to throwing too much of it away. The average household chucks away a whopping nine pieces a week – adding up to £468 over the course of a year – they discovered. As part of the survey, Aldi also pinpointed the most commonly thrown away fresh food items in Britain. Bananas top the list, with households each chucking away an average of 115 a year, while tomatoes, mushrooms, and 'easy peelers' are also ending up in the bin. Almost a quarter of respondents said they only get through half a bag of salad before having to throw it away. Meanwhile, 57 per cent admitted they don't fully understand exactly where and how to store food to keep it fresh for longer. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about 2.9 trillion pounds (or a third of the food in the world) is lost or wasted every year. Fruits, vegetables, roots, and tubers make up the most-wasted foods. In industrialized countries, this all amounts to $680 billion in food. In developing countries, it's $310 billion. The average waste per capita in Europe and North America is 95-115 kg, or 209-254 lb, ever year. The food lost or wasted in Latin America each year is enough to feed 300 million people. In Europe, it could feed 200 million people, and in Africa, it could feed 300 million people.
