This is why at the start of this year, Carrefour signed the “Use-by date” pact created by Too Good To Go, one of the aims of which is to teach the public what the difference is between a product's use-by date and its best-before date. While fresh products, meat and fish have use-by dates after which they may not be sold (“To be consumed by…), dry products (such as dry cakes, tinned products, fizzy drinks, chocolate, etc.) have best-before dates preceded by the wording “Best enjoyed before…”, or something similar. Unlike use-by dates, these products are not unfit for human consumption after their best-before dates. This is just a date after which the product may gradually start to lose some of its nutritional qualities and taste. And some products retain all their properties over a very long time. Carrefour has decided to do away with best-before dates on its own-brand products when these dates are not meaningful. It has done this for vinegar, vinaigrette sauce, salt, sugar, spices and even certain sweets. Products whose best-before dates have passed are now regularly sold in our stores at heavily discounted prices, at the front of display units in clearly marked areas. A way to let our customers know that these products are still tasty and fit for consumption.
Friday 16 October is National food waste tackling day An event and a cause that Carrefour is embracing so as to reduce the millions of tonnes of food that are thrown away every year.
Educate and inform
Tips for tackling food waste
For fresh products, Carrefour has extended the use-by dates on 300 of its own-brand products, but without making any changes to their recipes or compromising on their taste. The shelf life of grison meat, for example, has been increased by two weeks, while stirred yogurt has been given an extra five days before it is definitively removed from the store floor. As fresh products get closer to their expiry dates, they are systematically discounted by 30 to 60% and are grouped together in a special “Tips for tackling food waste” area.
For €3.99, customers can also order meal baskets exclusively made up of these “short expiry date” products via the Too Good To Go app. This service is now available in 1350 of our stores (all formats) and in two years has already “saved” the equivalent of 2 million meals in France. This has prevented nearly a thousand tonnes of food from being binned. Thanks to you and with our support, our food waste mountain is gradually being eroded. Everybody together tackling food waste.