Lidl GB has become the latest retailer to remove ‘use by’ dates on all its own-label milk and yoghurt lines as part of moves to help reduce food waste in people’s homes.
Its dairy lines will now only carry ‘best by’ dates to try and prevent edible food being thrown away. Lidl is encouraging customers to use their judgment to determine whether a product is still good to consume.
Lidl’s updated milk packaging has already started filtering into stores across England and Wales, while the change on yoghurts will begin from early 2024.
Richard Inglis, Head of Buying at Lidl GB, said: “At Lidl, we know that a lot of perfectly good milk and yoghurt is being thrown away because of ‘use by’ dates. It therefore makes total sense to us to make the switch to ‘best before’ so that shoppers can use their own judgement on whether their milk or yoghurt is good to consume. We’ve got a long record of making positive change to reduce food waste, and this latest step builds on our commitment to helping households tackle food waste at home.”
NAM Implications:
- This means Lidl are confident of rapid rotation in the lines chosen.
- Will rarely breach the ‘best by’ dates.
- Meanwhile, the older ones have survived thus far via our mother’s ‘sniff’ test…
