UK-based supermarket brand Morrisons has announced that it will be eliminating its use-by dates across 90% of its milk products in a bid to encourage customers to instead rely on their sense of smell to know whether or not it's fit for consumption.
The initiative comes as part of the brand's push to help curb the millions of pints of milk that are discarded every year in the UK because they are past their use-by date. The initiative also comes on the heels of its previous move to eliminate use-by dates on many of the brand's in-house yogurt and hard cheese products in 2020.
Senior Milk Buyer at Morrisons Ian Goode spoke further on the new initiative saying, "Wasted milk means wasted effort by our farmers and unnecessary carbon being released into the atmosphere. Good quality well-kept milk has a good few days life after normal ‘use by’ dates – and we think it should be consumed not tipped down the sink. So we’re taking a bold step today and asking customers to decide whether their milk is still good to drink. Generations before us have always used the sniff test – and I believe we can too."
Expiration Date Elimination Initiatives
Morrisons is Eliminating Dairy Use-By Dates to Curb Waste
Trend Themes
1. Elimination of Use-by Dates - Eliminating use-by dates on products to reduce food wastage presents opportunities for companies to promote the use of sensory cues to determine if a product is safe to consume.
2. Consumer Trust in Sensory Cues - Increased consumer trust in sensory cues for determining product freshness offers an opportunity for companies to cater to this preference.
3. Reducing Food Waste - Efforts to reduce food waste, such as eliminating use-by dates, creates opportunities for innovators to develop new food preservation techniques and packaging solutions.
Industry Implications
1. Supermarkets - Supermarkets have an opportunity to lead the way in reducing food waste by implementing use-by date elimination initiatives and promoting the use of sensory cues.
2. Food Production - Food producers can develop new preservation techniques that extend the shelf life of products and reduce the need for use-by dates.
3. Packaging - Packaging companies can develop more innovative and sustainable packaging solutions to improve food preservation and reduce waste.