Morrisons to scrap use by date on milk in favour of ‘sniff test’

Supermarket chain Morrisons will be scrapping the use by date on most of its milk in an attempt to prevent ‘millions of pints’ being wasted.

The retailer will instead place ‘best before’ on 90% of its milk products while encouraging customers to use a ‘sniff test’ to check its quality.

Wrap, a charity promoting sustainable resources, reports that around 490 million pints of milk are wasted in the UK every year, making it the third most wasted food and drink product after potatoes and bread.

The organisation also claims that 85 million of these pints of milk are wasted due to customers following ‘use by’ labels, despite research showing it can be used days after the date.

Morrisons

So in response to this, Morrisons will be scrapping the use by date completely, a move which they believe could save seven million pints of its own-brand milk being poured away each year.

In a statement, the supermarket said it’s research showed that milk does not need to be labelled as a perishable food, saying: “The dates on the milk will stay the same – it is what we are asking customers to do which is changing.”

Morrisons’ senior milk buyer Ian Goode added: “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.”

Marcus Gover from Wrap said on the supermarket’s decision: “I am delighted that Morrisons is the first UK supermarket to take this important step to help reduce household food waste – it shows real leadership and we look forward to more retailers reviewing date labels on their products and taking action.”

Morrisons has already scrapped ‘use by’ dates across some of its own-brand yogurt and hard cheese ranges.

According to the BBC, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) has confirmed that it was fine to have ‘use by’ or ‘best before’ on milk depending on the processing and type, though it noted that there must be clear labelling, and the dates printed on all food and drink must be based on ‘robust evidence about the product concerned’. 

The FSA also pointed out that when dealing with food generally, sniffing is not an appropriate safety test, especially with products that could cause food poisoning.