Lots of food is going to waste in B.C. and Canada, and it’s because of a simple misinterpretation.
Do you know the proper way to interpret the best-before dates on your food? It turns out that many B.C. residents don’t, according to a new study from Too Good To Go and Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab that reveals how much food is going to waste.
The report, which surveyed households across the country, found that the average Canadian household wastes $246 of “perfectly good food” every year, due to misunderstanding best-before dates.
In B.C. specifically, 70 per cent of residents apparently understand what the best-before date means, but 43 per cent still discard food past that date even when it’s edible. That’s three points higher than the national average.
An even larger 57 per cent of residents rely strictly on best before dates in determining whether food is safe to eat or not.
The report goes on to say that across Canada, 23 per cent of avoidable food waste is “caused by best before dates from processing to purchase.”
Second Harvest
According to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the best-before date is only an indicator of how long an unopened product will maintain its “optimal quality,” including freshness and flavour, when properly stored. It’s not meant to be an indicator of how safe the food is to eat.
“Products with a shelf life longer than 90 days are not required to carry a Best Before date,” the study states.
The study is part of the Look-Smell-Taste initiative, which was launched last year, and encourages people to trust their senses for products that are past the best-before date. Essentially, the good ol’ smell test is more important than the best-before date in many cases.
The study has some other interesting insights, like the fact that 2 in 3 residents take food costs into account when deciding whether they’ll eat a product past the expiration date. Seventy-eight per cent of respondents said that when purchasing food, they choose the item with the furthest best-before date. Two per cent ignore the best-before date altogether.
Dalhousie University x Too Good To Go
The most discarded foods were items like mayo-based deli salads, fish, chicken and other meats. Milk, yogurt and dairy desserts were also among the most discarded. The least discarded foods were tea or coffee, spices, and chocolate and candy. Fifty-five per cent of respondents also said they wouldn’t serve food past its best-before date to children or seniors, and an additional 63 per cent said they discard food over the fear of food poisoning.
How do you handle the best-before date on food items?