Would Canadians ever get rid of ‘best before’ dates?

Some United Kingdom supermarkets have done away with ‘best before’ dates on most of their products. Others are planning to follow their lead. Research shows that best before dates lead to food waste, as still-edible items are frequently tossed in the trash. And with food inflation making waste more costly, it seems like an idea worth considering.

So a new survey asked Canadians just that. Would they buy products without best before dates? Which ones? Do they ever consume products past those dates? The results illustrate Canada’s culture of food safety, but also the hypocrisy in some of our food decisions.

(You can find the full survey right here.)

GUEST: Sylvain Charlebois, Senior Director, Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, co-host of The Food Professor podcast

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