Budget retailer Lidl has announced a "big change" in the way it displays best before dates.
The supermarket chain says it wants to help customers cut down on their food waste. And one of the ways it plans to do this is by changing the best before dates on its dairy produce.
The firm said it is scrapping the "use-by" date on its milk and yoghurts. It says this will give customers the option to decide whether a product is still good to consume.
Updated milk products are already hitting the shelves. While yoghurts are set to undergo the overhaul from the start of 2024.
The supermarket says milk and yoghurt that’s been stored correctly and doesn’t smell bad or appear lumpy is safe to eat. Marks and Spencer announced a similar move for its packaging earlier this year.
Asda, Morrisons and Co-op also removed the "use by" labels. Co-op made the change in over 150 fresh products.
Richard Inglis, Head of Buying at Lidl GB, said: “At Lidl, we know that a lot of perfectly good milk and yoghurt is being thrown away because of ‘Use By’ dates. It therefore makes total sense to us to make the switch to ‘Best Before’ so that shoppers can use their own judgement on whether their milk or yoghurt is good to consume.
"We’ve got a long record of making positive change to reduce food waste, and this latest step builds on our commitment to helping households tackle food waste at home.”
Richard Inglis, Head of Buying at Lidl GB, said: “At Lidl, we know that a lot of perfectly good milk and yoghurt is being thrown away because of ‘Use By’ dates. It therefore makes total sense to us to make the switch to ‘Best Before’ so that shoppers can use their own judgement on whether their milk or yoghurt is good to consume. We’ve got a long record of making positive change to reduce food waste, and this latest step builds on our commitment to helping households tackle food waste at home.”
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