Sell-by dates have reached theirs is advice to industry

Friday 16th September 2011, 2:29PM BST.

Alliance store manager Nick Loveridge checks one of the three dates carried by foodstuffs, said by Defra to be confusing consumers. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 1179799)

SUPPLIERS have been asked to scrap sell-by dates to stop so much food being wasted.

Defra had advised manufacturers to remove the stock rotation information from products in favour of best-before and use-by dates to stop good food being inadvertently thrown away by confused families.

The UK department, which is responsible for environmental, food and rural affairs policies and regulations, has claimed five million tonnes of food is discarded unnecessarily every year.

In Guernsey, food labelling falls under the mandate of the Environmental Health Unit.

Director Val Cameron said the advice was a sensible approach for the industry to help consumers make choices.