Aldi to remove ‘use by’ dates from milk with shoppers urged to ‘sniff’ for freshness

Aldi will be removing the ‘use by’ dates on its milk by the end of the year with shoppers urged to ‘sniff’ the product to test its freshness instead.

The budget supermarket will remove the ‘use by’ dates but keep the ‘best before’ on its fresh milk across England and Wales in a bid to cut down on food waste.

The chain wants to introduce the change to stop milk being ‘thrown away unnecessarily’ and is urging customers to judge if the product is fit to consume by simply ‘sniffing’ it.

According to waste reduction charity WRAP,  nearly 300,000 tonnes of milk is wasted by UK households each year, with half of those households claiming the reason for pouring it away is because they’ve not managed to consume it by the ‘use by’ date.

Milk can still be safe to drink past its ‘best before’ date provided it has been stored properly and doesn’t smell bad. The move comes as Aldi is aiming to halve its food waste by 2030.

The supermarket has already removed ‘best before’ dates from around 60 fresh fruit and vegetable lines, and recently introduced clear caps on its milk bottles to improve recyclability. 

Aldi has also rolled out its partnership with food surplus app Too Good To Go nationwide.

Liz Fox, Sustainability Director at Aldi UK, said: “We are constantly working to be a more sustainable retailer and we are dedicated to preventing food waste wherever we can, both in our stores and helping customers throw away less food at home.

“We hope shoppers embrace this change and look, smell, and taste their milk to see if it’s still fine to use, so together we can reduce the effect food waste has on the environment.”