New business group to tackle date coding issues
9 February 2011
Muddled law and confusion among consumers are among the issues raised by a new review group set up to tackle business concerns regarding the date-coding of food.
The group has been set up the LBRO Business Reference Panel after it identified issues surrounding the enforcement of ‘use by' dates as a key concern among food retailers.
Businesses have questioned why the display of food beyond its use by date is a criminal offence in the UK, when it isn't in other EU states unless there is something actually wrong with the food. They also claim it is a legal muddle as to whether it is a food safety or food labelling issue. Retailers say few foods actually need use by dates.
The review group is independently chaired by Harold Gay (former Head of Legal Services at Alliance Boots and Chairman of the CBI Consumer Affairs Panel) and in addition to food retailers and producers includes a number of leading UK and European food lawyers and food safety experts.
LBRO Chairman Clive Grace said: "Businesses feel that while enforcement is high on local authority agendas, its execution is inconsistent - some authorities seem to always prosecute for infringements while others take a different view.
"Food safety is a serious issue but the level of waste that the current system apparently encourages must be reduced. The pressure on food supply and increasing prices means we have a moral duty to cut the millions of tonnes of food - 5.3m tonnes according to WRAP - that is thrown away needlessly."
The group will seek the views of the Food Standards Agency, the Association of Public Analysts, the Laboratory of the Government Chemist, the Institute of Food Safety and Technology, the Department of Health and WRAP.
LBRO is to commission a retail questionnaire, and draft a questionnaire for manufacturers. The intention of the group is to present its report and recommendations to LBRO in May.
LBRO recently completed a similar project looking at the enforcement of age-restricted products legislation and its enforcement.
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