Nestlé UK and Ireland has partnered with Too Good To Go, the food waste fighting initiative, for the ‘Look, Smell, Taste, Don’t Waste’ campaign to tackle date label confusion and help eliminate food waste.
Too Good To Go’s ‘Look, Smell, Taste, Don’t Waste’ campaign was launched today to educate consumers about date labels and reduce reliance on Best Before labels when determining whether food is still good to eat.
The campaign encourages people to use their senses to check food when it is past its Best Before date - look, smell and taste, before they think about throwing it away.
On the launch, Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good To Go , said: “Date labelling has long caused confusion and unnecessary food waste in the UK. If we are to make significant strides to reducing food waste, we need to take action now. This is why we’re launching our national, industry-wide ‘Look, Smell, Taste, Don’t Waste’ campaign.”
Stefano Agostini, CEO of Nestlé UK and Ireland said: "Building on our work in reducing food waste across our operations, we’re delighted to support Too Good To Go’s 'Look, Smell, Taste, Don't Waste' campaign.
“An estimated 180,000 of food is wasted every year across the UK, the same as nearly 30,000 delivery trucks. Much of this is due to confusion over date labelling, therefore it is crucial that food manufacturers and retailers take collaborative action and a consistent approach to helping consumers reduce food waste.”
Too Good To Go has brought together some of the nation’s favourite global and independent brands to move products to Best Before labelling where possible and display ‘Look, Smell, Taste, Don’t Waste’ messaging on packs.
Nestlé will be rolling out the new labelling on a progressive basis, across key products produced in the UK and Ireland, to support consumers in the war on waste.
Food waste is an important challenge of modern day living and is a significant contributor to climate change. Approximately a third of all food produced goes to waste each year, which is responsible for around 8% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Acting on food waste is one of Nestlé’s priorities as part of its ambition to halve its emissions by 2030 and achieve net zero by 2050.
Nestlé has been working to reduce its food waste for more than a decade and, in 2015, achieved zero waste to landfill (including food waste) across its entire UK and Irish operations.
The company works to minimise food waste through ‘Waste Not Want Not’ approach, developing and applying food waste audits to help reduce food waste at source. To ensure that good food does not go to waste, Nestlé works with Fareshare and Community Shop in the UK and Food Cloud in Ireland, to redistribute more of its surplus food for charitable and commercial use.
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WHAT DO THE VARIOUS DATE LABELS MEAN?
Best Before - Indication of the food’s quality - food can be consumed after the date shown
Use By - Safety measure - food should not be consumed after the date shown
Display Until / Sell By - Stock control measure for retailers - these do not mean anything for consumers