The move comes following research that milk is the third most wasted food and drink product in the UK next to potatoes and bread.

Morrisons will switch from ‘use by’ dates to ‘best before’ dates and encourage customers to use a simple ‘sniff test’ to check the milk’s quality.

The move shows the evolution of labels to be more environmentally conscious and discourage the increased use of plastic, and adhesives. While changes like this could negatively affect the packaging and labelling sectors, the move to produce more precise orders and reduce waste can also benefit business.

The ‘best before’ date will indicate to customers when the product will be at its best, but not suggest it has spoiled afterwards. This will affect Morrisons’ own brand British and Scottish milks, Morrisons organics milks, and Morrisons For Farmers milks.

The latter range was formed to give customers the option of paying slightly more in order for part of the purchase price to go directly to farmers. By July 2021 Morrisons customers had helped raised over £20m for the initiative.

Ian Goode, senior milk buyer at Morrisons, says: “Wasted milk means wasted effort by our farmers and unnecessary carbon being released into the atmosphere. Good quality well-kept milk has a good few days’ life after normal ‘use by’ dates, we think it should be consumed not tipped down the sink.

“We’re taking a bold step today and asking customers to decide whether their milk is still good to drink. Generations before us have always used the sniff test and I believe we can too.”

Research from WRAP shows that around 85 million pints of milk could be wasted due to customers sticking to ‘use by’ dates or ‘use within’ guidance, even though the product still could be safe to drink. Unlike other products, drinking milk after a ‘best before date’ is not a food safety issue.

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