Lidl ditches ‘use by’ date from milk and yoghurt
Lidl has scrapped ‘use by’ dates on own brand milk and yoghurt to help customers reduce food waste at home.
The updated milk packaging has already started to filter into Lidl’s stores in England and Wales. Yoghurt labels will be changed from early 2024.
The discounter is the latest grocer to make the move with both Sainsbury’s and Aldi ditching use by labels on milk in recent months and instead allow customers to use their own judgement.
Lidl GB head of buying Richard Inglis said: “At Lidl, we know that a lot of perfectly good milk and yoghurt is being thrown away because of ‘use by’ dates.
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“It therefore makes total sense to us to make the switch to ‘best before’ so that shoppers can use their own judgement on whether their milk or yoghurt is good to consume.
“We’ve got a long record of making positive change to reduce food waste, and this latest step builds on our commitment to helping households tackle food waste at home.”
The initiative comes as Lidl tries to minimise food waste.
It launched its ‘Too Good to Waste’ boxes in 2019. He boxes provide approximately 5kg of fruit and vegetables that are slightly damaged, discoloured, or deteriorated but are still good to eat for just £1.50.
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I bought a pack of four milbona peach yoghurts yesterday 7th June, at the new Lidl store on Kettering Road, Northampton. Went to eat one today, checked the date and was upset to see best before 01June. I am unable to get to the store to return them so that’s £1.65 down the drain. shall stick with Tesco in future.
Bought pack of Milbona peach yoghurt at Lidl, Kettering Road, Northampton, yesterday 7th June. Disappointed when today I saw it says best before 01June. I shall stick with Tesco in future.
We bought two four pint skimmed milk bottles from Lidl at Amesbury on Thursday 22st August. The date on the bottles was 27th August. They went in to our 5C fridge an hour later. By Saturday 24th, both had started to smell and taste “off” as soon as my wife opened them for the first time. Monday 25th we took them both back and got a full refund after complaining to the duty manager. The rest of their stock was all dated 27th, at full price. Needless to say we went to the nearby Tesco, and bought their bottles which were clearly maked as USE BY 04th September. We will look very carefully when we do our next shop in Lidl to see just what their date is – even if it was BEST BEFORE, it was unusable. Beware..
We have found Lidl milk dates very much shorter than Tesco. It is not possible to shop for milk a week in advance due to Lidl short codes. Shopping only once a week, we need long dates on milk.
We bought 2 x 4 pint skimmed milk from Lidl Amesbury on 21st August with a date of 27th on the bottle, both kept refrigerated within a hour of purchase. By 24th August both bottles of milk had turned sour. I needed to replace this milk so returned them to the same Lidls on 25th. There was no problem with a refund but did notice the cage of skimmed milk was still dated 27th, the same date as I purchased on 21st August. Nearby Tesco had milk with use by date of 4th Sept, much longer than Lidl. We will not be buying milk from Lidl again.