French retailer Carrefour has teamed up with industry startup Too Good to Go to support a new petition calling on retailers to revise the semantics behind 'best before' dates on product packaging.
The #Changetadate campaign has been developed to clarify the minimum durability date on products, with customer misunderstanding about the stability of certain products leading to an increase in food waste.
Customers can sign the petition on the Change.org website.
The announcement was made to coincide with World Food Day, which takes place today, 16 October.
Carrefour has also taken to social media to encourage its shoppers to choose the type of wording that they believe should feature on best before messages on its products.
Shoppers can choose between the following messages:
- A consommer de préférence avant le mm/aa, mais pas impérativement! (“To be eaten before mm/yy, but not imperatively!”)
- A consommer de préférence avant le mm/aa, parce que c’est meilleur avant! ("To be eaten before mm/yy, because it's better before!”)
- A consommer de préférence avant le mm/aa pour une dégustation optimale ("To be eaten before mm/yy for optimum enjoyment”)
Carrefour was an early adopter of scrapping best before dates on certain products with 100 Carrefour products, such as sugar, salt and vinegar all having their minimum durability dates removed in 2014.
In addition, 400 fresh or grocery products had their minimum durability dates or use-by dates extended as part of the same initiative.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
