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Ignore the use-by date at your peril – it could kill you
They may be confusing but some food labels could save your life
Fridges piled high with mouldy cheese, wilted lettuce and psychedelic-looking slices of meat – the trademark of a typical student household.
Now, thanks to the confusing number of "use by", "best before", "sell by" and "display until" dates stamped on modern food packaging, more and more people are failing to read the small print, putting themselves and their families at risk.
Food poisoning in its mildest form means little more than an upset stomach but at its worst, E.coli for instance, it is a killer.
And, out of the tens of thousands of Britons who go down with food poisoning every year, more than 400 will die.
Then there's all the food waste.
The average UK household chucks out 420 worth of perfectly good food every year – 4.1m tons in all.
Most of this is down to poor storage and confusion over food labelling, says Julia Falcon, of the Govern-ment campaign Love Food Hate Waste.
"The problem is that we don't just have one label, we have about four and there are variations on those four," she says.
"About 50 per cent of consumers are confused by the labels and don't understand the differences."
Only two of those labels – use by and best before – are required under EU legislation and these are for the consumer's benefit.
The other two, sell by and display until, are reminders to help supermarket staff.
Still confused? Then follow our guide to food labelling.
Use by
This is the only date you really need to look for, as "use by" means exactly that.
And you don't have to eat it before that date: you actually have until the end of that day to consume (or freeze) the product.
"The use-by date is a safety measure on food and drinks that are easily perishable, like dairy, ready-prepared salads, fish and cooked meats," says Falcon.
While you might think risking a day beyond the date is fine, don't trust your nose or eyes on these foods as looks can be deceiving, says the Food Standards Agency's Brad Smythe.
"Most food bugs aren't visible to the eye and don't smell of anything," he says.
"So you could follow your nose with a piece of cooked ham but it could have E.coli 0157 on it, which could kill you."
Best before
These dates relate to food quality, not safety, and can be found on frozen, dried or canned foods such as breads, cakes and rice.
Eggs are the only food whose best-before label should be viewed as a use-by date, as they can contain salmonella bacteria, which can start to multiply after this date.
But consumers are using best-before dates as use-by guidelines for all foods, not just eggs, the Government has found.
Research for the Waste and Resources Action Programme (Wrap) found that 53 per cent of people would never eat past the best-before date, resulting in more than 370,000 tons of food being thrown away each year, 40,000 tons of which was never opened but still perfectly edible.
Display until
These dates are instructions for shop staff only and should be ignored by consumers.
Falcon says: "Sell-by and display-until dates are only to help store staff, so they shouldn't bother consumers.
"Supermarkets will often offer discounted prices on food that has passed its display-until/sell-by dates, but that doesn't mean that it's unsafe to eat."
Food storage sense
Most of us think that throwing anything in the fridge will make it last longer but nearly two million tons of food are wasted every year because we don't know how to properly store it.
Fruit
74 per cent of us keep apples in a fruitbowl but they last two weeks longer in the fridge.
But bananas should always be kept out of the fridge as they tend to go black in colder temperatures.
Bread
"A vast quantity of bread is thrown out when we could just freeze it and use what we need when we need it," says Falcon.
For those of you looking to reduce mould on your bread, don't place your loaf in the fridge.
"The fridge actually causes the starch to break down faster and make the bread deteriorate so always store your bread either in the larder or in the freezer."
Meat, fish and cheese
"We often buy meat and fish and once it goes past the use by date, we chuck it," says Falcon. "But as long as you put it in the freezer by the end of the use-by date, it can last for months."
Cheese is also good to store in the freezer, whether it's a block or a few gratings. If you've got the end of some cheese that you'd like to use, grate it, put in a bag, and use it as a pizza or pasta topping later.
Dealing with waste
A better understanding of food labels not only keeps us healthy, it also cuts down on the environmental impacts of food waste.
Around 20 per cent of UK greenhouse gases are from the production, distribution and storage of food.
Most food that is thrown out ends up in landfill, where it produces methane, a greenhouse gas 15 times more powerful than CO.
Reduce your food waste by starting a wormery or compost bin.
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