Grocery stores have a large amount of food and not all of these products are sold before their expiration date. So you are probably wondering what supermarkets do with food that is past its best before date or expired.
What do supermarkets do with expired food?
1. Products are sold to other stores
There are foods that remain edible even when the best before date has arrived. These items that can still be eaten include certain canned foods and pasta.
In some grocery stores or food banks it is possible to find products at low cost or with a small recovery fee. Large supermarkets send these products to recovery centers so that they are later dispatched to other smaller stores.
2. They are donated
Supermarket chains can donate to food banks or charities Edible products that are close to expiration or past their best before date but are still safe to eat.
3. They end up in the trash
A lot of food ends up in the trash even though it is safe to eat.
“Much of the food is still technically edible, but most large supermarket chains severely limit the amount of food that is donated once they are no longer able to sell it. The reason is fear of litigation due to poor or vague laws and regulations,” shares Jeff Campbell at The Grocery Store Guy.
Campbell, who spent more than 20 years at Whole Foods in leadership positions, points out that the tens of billions of pounds of food thrown away include wilted and moldy produce, spoiled meat and seafood, canned goods, and in dented and damaged boxes, as well as baked goods that are stale or moldy.
Although a part of the expired food is used, a good part of this food also ends up in the trash. In the United States, food waste is estimated at 30 to 40 percent of the food supply.according to a report from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Food waste has a huge impact. Not just because the wasted food could have fed families in need. But for the land, water, labor, energy, and other inputs used to produce, process, transport, prepare, store, and dispose of wasted food.
Keep reading:
5 tips for a sustainable diet and taking better care of the Earth
How to know if food has gone bad, beyond its official expiration date
What Costco does with rotisserie chicken and other leftover food
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