SIMPLER date labelling and clearer storage advice for consumers could help Scots cut the 170,000 tonnes of food thrown away from Scotland’s homes, according to Zero Waste Scotland.
New guidance produced by sustainability experts WRAP, to be used by food manufacturers and retailers, aims to help Scots ensure food is safe, stored properly and used on time. The report says labels such as “display until” should no longer be used, insisting that “use by” is the only date which should feature on food packaging.
It also calls for a further roll-out of changes to the commonly used “freeze on date of purchase” label to reflect that foods can be safely frozen right up until their use-by date. Companies should also use helpful logos alongside text more often, which consumers find easier to understand than text alone.
Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “Every household in Scotland could save around £460 a year simply by not wasting good food.
“We welcome this new guidance which will help standardise food labelling and make it easier for people to understand when they can freeze their food. This will help us work towards our ambitious target of reducing food waste by 33 per cent by 2025.”
Iain Gulland, the chief executive of Zero Waste Scotland, said: “A lot of food is wasted from our homes because people don’t understand whether it’s safe to eat or not, and confusion over date labels and what they mean plays a significant part in this.
“The changes to food labelling suggested in the new guidance could make a big difference to the amount of food we waste.”
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