Even more excited to see that I seem to be doing most things right! I really hope that I can keep up this pace for our family in the years to come and not succumb to ridiculous levels of expenditure and consumerism that we used to achieve. I do think I can learn more about storage of food, so I'm looking forward to reading through this website.
You, like I was, may be startled to learn the following facts quoted on the site:
"In NSW, we throw away $2.5 billion worth of edible food a year.
Here is what we are throwing away:
- $848 million of fresh food
- $694 million of leftovers
- $371 million of packaged and long-life products
- $231 million of drinks
- $231 million of frozen food
- $180 million of take-aways"
I think one reason we throw away so much is the 'Use By' dates now on products. In the old days, if it was off when we opened it, we threw it out. But these days we throw it before even checking to see if it is off because it is 'out of date'. To make it even worse, the 'use by' date is often only a 'best before' date which is actually telling us to 'check before' throwing it out.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked in the retail food sector for over 30 years, I think it is safe to say that we (as consumers) have been 'scared' into thinking that we must not eat anything that is past it's date. From my experience, when it comes to the majority of packaged foodstuffs, the manufacturers allow 1 month's grace, so if the product has a use by of 1/1/11, then by that standard, it is still safe until 1/2/11. This does still vary according to heat and damp. As far as dairy products are concerned, use by dates are virtually useless, as their freshness is often affected by the storage temp before purchase, home fridge temp and any time spent above 4c, so my golden rule has always been: If you have to smell it twice, it's fine! However, the laws are there to protect the huge number of people who have very poor standards when it comes to food handling and hygiene. To think so many consumers STILL defrost meat on the kitchen bench makes me shudder!
ReplyDeleteThe other problem that we, in our business are directly affected by is our 'duty of care'. By law, we must temp check every single item through the back door and keep a record of every food item and delivery time, date and temp. All stock must be date coded and we are not allowed to sell any meat, re-process or further process any meats. These laws and the according penalties, which can be very severe adds considerably to fresh food retailers' waste.
We are also not allowed to give food away to places like nursing homes, shelters etc as they too must keep diaries of all foodstuffs and are also, by law required to show duty of care. If they by chance made someone sick, there are huge fines and closures.
Personally, I detest waste and absolutely hate throwing food away, but the laws are very clear.
I have done up to and including level 5 & HACCP food handling & hygiene courses, so if you or your readers would like some info on the above, I am only too happy to help.
Thanks Pip, that was a very useful comment!
ReplyDelete