Sell By Date

It has come out today that environment minister Hilary Benn wants to see the abandonment of sell-by-dates. It will apparently save the 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, as every year we the public throw away £10 billion of edible food, £400 per family.

Sell-by-dates are something that have become noticeably shorter over the past few years, on the basis that supermarkets and stores and worried about selling out of date, or produce which is not 100%, and being sued.

I can not really see how this is going to help, because for all the cash a family saves on not buying a new pot of cream, they will spend double on suing someone for gross negligence, food poisoning, or loss of work et al.

So I say lets keep the sell by dates, its safer, and more to the point, when customers go out to eat, they will be safe in the knowledge the food they are eating is ‘in date’, and so more willing to eat out.