FAMILIES are throwing out record amounts of edible food because of confusion over ''use-by'' and ''best-before'' labels, say environmental groups.
An estimated $5.2 billion worth of food is wasted each year in Australia, with the bulk ending up in the bin because it is past its ''use-by'' or ''best-before'' date.
More than $1.1 billion worth of fruit and vegetables are being thrown out, over $1 billion in uneaten takeaway food, $873 million in meat and fish and $241 million in frozen food, according to research by the independent think tank, Australia Institute.
The main issue with food wastage in households, says action group Do Something's Jon Dee, is that many people mistakenly believe use-by and best-before are the same thing.
Mr Dee said people were throwing out perfectly good food when it reached its best-before date when this was meant as a guide for shoppers.
All packaged foods with a shelf life of less than two years must have a use-by or best-before date stamped on the box, wrapper or bottle.
It is illegal to sell food past its use-by date because of the potential health or safety risk. Foods marked best-before may be sold after this date, provided the food has not deteriorated.
The maximum penalty for selling a food product that is unsafe is a $500,000 fine.
Mr Dee said ensuring food was not wasted not only saved money but also helped the environment.
It has been estimated that over 64 per cent of water use is for agriculture. Throwing out a kilogram of beef wastes up to 50,000 litres of water used to produce it, while throwing out a kilo of rice wastes 2385 litres.
The senior food policy officer for the consumer advocate CHOICE, Clare Hughes, said the group regularly received calls from people confused over the best-before date labelling on food. Ms Hughes said there was a need to better educate people about what best-before actually means.
''Eating food after the use-by date can present a health and safety problem whereas best-before is really about quality and it's not going to kill you if you eat it a few days after the best-before date expires,'' she said.
Ms Hughes said another food wastage issue involved people throwing out perfectly good cans of food as a precaution because there was no date stamped on them.
According to the Victorian Government's Better Health Channel website, a product will remain fresh and of good quality right up to the best-before date if it is properly stored, at home and at the supermarket.
Foods frequently marked use-by include perishables such as milk, sliced ham, some smallgoods and shaved meats.
Goods marked best-before include canned foods, cereals, biscuits, sauces, chocolate, sugar, flour and frozen foods.
Mr Dee said that while food wastage in households was at record levels, the worst culprits were the supermarket giants.
Woolworths' Armineh Mardirossian said the company had provided 1350 tonnes of surplus food to charities including Foodbank in 2009 but she could not say how much food was among the 150,000 tonnes of waste it sends to landfill each year.
Coles spokesman Jim Cooper said 1600 tonnes of surplus food was donated to Foodbank in 2008-09, but he did not know how much of the total 122,570 tonnes of waste taken to landfill was food.
Is it safe to eat?
Use-by: If a food can become unsafe, it must have a use-by date and it can't be sold after that date. You'll find use-by dates on perishables such as meat, fish and dairy products. Don't eat any food that's past its use-by date, even if it looks and smells OK.
Best-before: Most other foods must use best-before dates, a guide to how long they'll keep their qualities - unless they last two years or more, in which case they don't need any date marking. The food should be at peak quality until the date given and still be safe to eat after that date, though its quality may suffer. Some foods, such as bread, can use a ''baked on'' or ''baked for'' date instead of a best-before date (the baked-for date can't be more than 12 hours after the bread is baked).
SOURCE: CHOICE
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