M&S drops use-by dates on milk and tells customers to use the sniff test instead
7 June 2023, 13:06
Marks & Spencer is telling customers they should use the old-fashioned ‘sniff test’ to see if milk is safe to use, as use-by dates are removed from cartons.
The measure is designed to eliminate unnecessary food waste.
It will instead by ‘best before’ dates on British and organic fresh milk to stop millions of pints worth being poured down the sink when they are past the use-by date, despite being OK to drink.
M&S says a combination of improved shelf life and a better overall quality of milk meant customers can use the “use their judgement” before throwing away milk .
Morrisons swapped “use by” dates for “best before” last year and told shoppers to “use the sniff test”.
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Milk consumed after the ‘best before’ date may not be at its best, but it also won't necessarily make customers ill.
M&S says around 490 million pints of milk, worth £270m are poured down UK drains each year because it is past its use-by date.
The Food Standards Agency advises that ‘best before’ should only be eaten if the food is still of an acceptable quality.
For example if there is visible mould on bread, if biscuits or crips are stale, or if milk has a sour smell it is not safe.
For food with a ‘use-by’ date, food is not safe if it has passed the date regardless of appearance, as it can harbour bugs that we cannot see or smell that cause food poisoning.
