More than four out of ten Quebecers regularly throw away food because the “best before” date has passed, according to a Léger survey commissioned by the Too Good To Go application. This company is launching a campaign on Tuesday to encourage consumers to rely instead on their senses to avoid waste.
Starting this week, a new logo will gradually appear on the packaging of around fifteen food brands in Canada, including Ristorante pizzas, Cracker Barrel cheeses and Sunny Fruit dried fruits. It will invite people to observe, smell and taste the products concerned if the shelf life date has passed.
“These are essentially products that have fairly long shelf lives. It can be dairy products or more stable products, like cereals. We have a partnership in Europe with Kellogg’s and, a year after the date, we can often still consume the product,” reports Nicolas Dot, public relations manager for Too Good To Go (TGTG) Canada.
This Danish company, which arrived on the Quebec market in 2021, sells surprise baskets of surplus food from grocery stores, restaurants, bakeries and various food stores at reduced prices. She will soon have sold a million baskets in the province, says Mr. Dot. The TGTG team recruited manufacturers willing to contribute to its “Observe, Smell, Taste” awareness campaign. These companies are responsible for making changes to their packaging by adding the logo provided by TGTG. In Canada, the movement is nascent, but more than 500 brands are participating in it in Europe, underlines Mr. Dot.
He explains that the company followed the recommendations of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Health Canada and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Quebec to ensure not to induce misleading consumers. Fresh meats and fish are excluded from the campaign. This is also the case for products that have a strict “use by date,” such as meal replacements and infant formula.
When we pass a “best before” date, “the freshness and quality are not the same, but that does not mean that the product is no longer safe,” recalls Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Food Laboratory. agri-food analysis from Dalhousie University. The latter affirms that these dates are determined “in a somewhat subjective manner”.
On the validity of the “best before”
Only products that have a shelf life of 90 days or less have a legal obligation to affix a “best before” date. This is not the case for drinks from the Quebec brand Flirt, which is participating in the TGTG campaign. Co-founder Alexy Lavigne-McPhee says his lemonades are usually good for years. Despite everything, he feels obliged to enter a retention date.
“It’s so ingrained in our culture that people find it weird when it’s not there, and it has a negative impact on the company,” notes Mr. Lavigne-McPhee. There may be changes in taste or nose over time. What we’re always going to recommend is just asking yourself if the color of the liquid is still good, if it still smells good and still tastes good. »
The Léger survey commissioned by TGTG confirms that Quebecers are attached to “best before” dates, since 94% of respondents say they always or sometimes check it before eating a product. For this survey, Léger conducted online interviews with a representative sample of 1,011 Canadian adults, including 228 Quebecers, from September 7 to 18, 2023.
“I think this campaign is a good idea, because we invite people to a collective discussion on the validity and reason for these dates,” believes Sylvain Charlebois.
In April, Mr. Charlebois’ laboratory published a study according to which “rising food prices push the majority of Canadians to consume products beyond the expiration date” and that 20% of them had been sick after consuming foods close to or after the “best before” date.
“I don’t recommend that very old people or people with weakened immune systems do this every day. But if you are healthy, you can trust your senses,” the researcher judged.
The expert also points out that citizens can save a lot of money by looking at these deadlines in a different light.