M&S has removed expiry dates on its milk and will instead advise customers to do a sniff test to determine if it is safe to consume.
The company warned that around 490 million pints, or £270 million, of food is thrown away in the UK each year, prompting the decision to reduce food waste.
This equates to approximately 18 and a half pints per home, usually because the product has expired.
The move follows last year’s removal of best-by dates from more than 300 fruits and vegetables by the retailer.
The Food Standards Agency encourages people to use sensory cues to determine whether food is fit to eat
M&S is not the first retailer to change the food labeling on its products in a bid to reduce waste, with Tesco revealing last month that it will change the best-before and best-before dates on up to 30 of its own brands of yoghurt.
Use-by dates were also removed from the Co-op’s own-brand fruit and vegetables in February, while Morrisons’ milk use-by dates were removed last year.
The Food Standards Agency encourages people to use “sensory cues” to determine if best-before food is safe to eat.
He recommends sniffing dairy products, looking for visible mold on bread, and tasting crackers or chips to see if they’re stale.
However, this approach does not apply to items with an expiration date, because even if it looks and smells good, it may contain bugs that cause food poisoning.
M&S said the move was in line with its commitment to tackling food waste, with milk the third most wasted food in the home after potatoes and bread.
The average family with children throws away £60 worth of food a month, more than £700 a year, according to sustainable charity Action for Waste and Resources.
Catherine David, director of collaboration and change at the charity, said: “By changing its British and organic fresh milk to Best Before, M&S is immediately helping its customers save money and reduce waste, giving them more time to consume the milk they buy.”
It is estimated that around £270 million of food is wasted in the UK each year
She added: “This type of labeling change is fundamental to helping people reduce household food waste, which currently exceeds more than 6.6 million tonnes each year in the UK.”
WRAP’s product life testing has shown that fruit and vegetables can be good to eat long after their use-by date when stored under optimal conditions.
It has been found that for broccoli, the difference between the expiration date and the first sign of deterioration is 15 days.
For potatoes it was 20 days and for apples it was over 70 days.