// Morrisons removes date labels and “display until” stamps on 200 fresh fruit, vegetable and salad items

// The initiative aims to reduce food waste and save money

Morrisons is removing date labels and “display until” stamps on nearly 200 of its fresh fruit, vegetable and salad items.

The grocer is hoping to encourage customers to use their own judgement as to whether produce is good to eat after being bought and stored at home.

The initiative aims to reduce food waste and save money. Morrisons is committed to reducing food waste by 50% by 2030.

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Morrisons started to scrap dates on produce labels ahead of Christmas food shopping in mid-December.

Whilst some items will have their dates removed completely, such as bananas, watermelon and pineapple, most will be replaced by a code system.

A Morrisons staff member can use the code to ensure the same freshness on shelf.

Next year, Morrisons aims to update its packaging for more perishable pre-packed products such as berries, grapes and stone fruit. The changes will see it move away from ‘Display Until’ and introduce ‘Best Before’ labelling to indicate the quality of produce to customers.

Morrisons head of technical produce and horticulture, Damon Johnson said: “People tend to over buy food for Christmas dinner to ensure plenty for all but by cooking what you need, saving veg for meals between Christmas and New Year as well as enjoying leftovers, budgets can go further.

“Now more than ever it’s important to help our customers to reduce their food waste. We hope by removing dates from our produce lines, changing our messaging on packs and by providing our customers with advice on storage, we can support households in extending the life of their food and save customers money this Christmas.”