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Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste

Best Before labels are causing food waste

And we're trying to change that. Introducing 'Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste' - a campaign to clear up date label confusion



Do you know the difference between ‘Best Before’ and ‘Sell By’? ‘Display Until’ and ‘Use By’?

Many of us don't, and it’s causing a whopping ten per cent of Europe’s food waste - 9,000,000 tonnes across Europe each year.

So Too Good To Go has teamed up with some of the world’s biggest food brands to change packaging, re-classify how products should be labelled, and shake up the way we judge whether food is safe to eat.

It all starts with the 'Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste' pictogram. Designed to be stamped on foods that carry a Best Before, the pictogram prompts us to sense-check our food instead of blindly binning it due to a lapsed date.


Look

Check the food for signs of visual decay. 

Smell

Sniff the food to test whether it smells as it usually would.

Taste

Taste a small amount of the food to check whether it's turned unusually tangy or sour.



WHY WE SHOULD UNDERSTAND DATE LABELS

Candice Brown

"I don’t hide the fact I’m quite food obsessed and love creating recipes, playing around with food and of course eating! This is why I’m proud to be part of the Too Good to Go campaign to help people understand and use the date labels to make the most of their food and show this is a really important way to avoid food going to waste."

Melissa Hemsley

"It's worrying that so much food in UK households goes to waste simply because of confusion around date labels. I'm passionate about reducing food waste and if we can all do our bit by using our senses to decide if we eat food past its best before date, we can make a difference."

Thomasina Miers

"At home I rarely look at best befores - they’re almost always misleading. Most foods have days, weeks, or, in the case of ketchups, jams, and relishes, months more life in them than their labels imply. I can’t bear waste, so I use the power of my senses to guide me. After all, that’s what we always relied on to judge whether food was safe - until regulations came in.” 



READ UP ON DATE LABELLING 

What do the different date labels mean?

So, do you your ‘best before’ from your ‘sell by’? Your ‘display until’ from your ‘use by’? Our date label cheat sheet has everything you need to get up to speed.



Which foods can you eat past their Best Before dates?

We all find a dust-covered can of soup or a baking product you only used once at the back of the cupboard from time to time.

However, next time, don’t be so quick to shamefully giggle and throw it away. Products like these will usually still be perfectly edible...


SO, WHAT'S ACTUALLY CHANGING?

PARTICIPATING BRANDS HAVE MADE FOUR PLEDGES

  1. Add Too Good To Go's 'Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste' label to packaging
  2. Change 'use by' labels to 'best before' on products with flexible consumption dates
  3. Remove best before labels on products that don't require them
  4. Commit to fighting food waste together


LEADING THE WAY

CLICK ON THE LOGOS TO DISCOVER THE CHANGES THESE BRANDS ARE MAKING


NESTLÉ

COOKIE CRISP

NESQUIK

 

GOLDEN NUGGETS

SHREDDED WHEAT

SHREDDIES


CHEERIOS

ACTIVIA

ACTIMEL


DANONE

OYKOS

LIGHT & FREE


BEL GROUP

THE LAUGHING COW

GOGO SQUEEZ


TROPICANA

COPELLA

EMMI


ONKEN

BELEAF

YEO VALLEY