The East of England Co-op, the biggest independent retailer in East Anglia, has announced that it will sell food that is past the "best before" date in a bid to reduce the amount of food waste it produces.
The new plan will apply to tinned and dried food, such as pasta and crisps, rather than perishable food. Once the food has passed its "best before" date, the retailer will reduce the price to 10p and offer it for sale for a little longer. This move is perfectly safe as food that has passed the "best before" date is still edible; goods with a designated "use by" date will not be sold past that date.
According to the Food Standards Agency, the UK disposes of 7.3 million tonnes of food every year. In addition, Wrap estimates that £13bn worth of edible food is also disposed of every year in Britain. With this in mind, the East of England Co-op will deploy its plan to reduce food waste across its 125 stores.
Roger Grosvenor, East of England Co-op's joint chief executive, said, "The vast majority of our customers understand they are fine to eat and appreciate the opportunity to make a significant saving on some of their favourite products." He added "This is not a money making exercise, but a sensible move to reduce food waste and keep edible food in the food chain."
The retailer expects that the new plan will stop at least 50,000 items a year being thrown away.
Larger retailers such as Tesco and Waitrose already do something to reduce waste from items that are passed their "best before" dates, though in a less visible way by donating the food to local charities.
