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Food Waste Prevention Making Good Progress

15 June 2012

An increase in the availability of smaller pack sizes, clearer date labelling and improved storage and freezing guidance are all helping consumers to reduce the £12bn worth of food they waste, says new research from WRAP

The WRAP Retailer Survey 2012 demonstrates that the food industry is making good progress towards making it easier for customers to get the best from the food they buy - but it shows there's still more to be done.

"Today's report points to some great progress that's been made," said WRAP Design & Waste Prevention Director Richard Swannell. "The steps retailers and manufacturers have been taking have made an important contribution towards helping reduce the amount of food we buy and waste."

The 2012 survey looked at 12,000 products across 20 different categories where food waste has traditionally been high, including bread, bacon, chicken, apples, carrots, potatoes, bagged salad, rice, pasta, yoghurt, eggs, cheese and milk.

"We know from our research into food waste that the amount we're throwing away every year has fallen - but we're still wasting enough food to fill Wembley Stadium nine times. There is still more we could all do to reduce waste - and save money in these hard-pressed times - and the food industry can help us," said Richard.

The survey's findings included:

  • Increased availability of smaller packs of potatoes, milk, cooking sauces, bread and bread rolls (eg the number of four-packs of rolls rose from 18 percent to 32 percent, and packs of two, from five percent to 13 percent).
  • Nearly half of all packs (47 percent) are now re-closable. (eg the number of re-sealable cheese packs has increased to 35 percent (from 26 percent) and 73 percent of rice packs are now re-closable compared to 44 percent 96 percent of all products surveyed carried storage guidance, helping consumers keep food fresher for longer
  • New labelling being rolled out by retailers including Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, and now Waitrose, makes it clear consumers don't have to freeze goods on the day of purchase, but can do so any time up to the use by date
  • The use of display until dates has fallen dramatically with less than a third of surveyed products carrying this. No 'sell by' dates were found on any of the products. Retailers are also finding new ways to make the important 'best before' and 'use by' dates easier to read - eg Sainsbury's prints dates on milk and fresh fruit and vegetables in a larger typesize. These steps reduce confusion and help consumers know when to eat foods by
  • More than 95 percent of all cheddar cheese packs surveyed now carry a best before date (in 2009, 25 percent had a use by date)
  • 94 percent of chilled orange juice packs surveyed in 2011 carried a use by date, but following discussions with WRAP, innocent has adopted a best before date on all its smoothies and juices. British Soft Drinks Association and British Retail Consortium members have now agreed that all heat-treated (pasteurised) fruit juices should carry a best before date.　
  • This tells consumers they can use the product quite safely after the date on the label - important when around £220m of cheese and £80m of juices are thrown away each year because they are not used in time.

While the results suggest good progress, WRAP has cautioned there's still more that needs to be done to help consumers waste less.

"We're continuing to work closely with the food industry through the Courtauld Commitment, trade associations, the Food Standards Agency and Governments, to provide clear recommendations, and the evidence they need to implement further changes," said Richard.

"There are areas where we think retailers could continue to make improvements - for example, by removing display until dates, increasing consistency of use by or 'best before' date use and ensuring that consumers are given as long as possible to make use of the food (shelf-life). Increasing the proportion of products that carry freezing and defrosting guidance and the use of freeze before date mark label could also make a big difference."

WRAP believes that combining effective consumer communication with innovation is critical to continued progress. "Manufacturers and supermarkets alike have made great strides with both technological innovations and supporting WRAP's Love Food Hate Waste initiative," added Richard. "It would be great to see more of the same."

Darrel Moore