A renewed effort to abolish “best before” dates on shelf-stable food products like pasta and rice is being proposed as a key strategy to combat food waste in Germany. The initiative, championed by members of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), aims to address the significant volume of edible food discarded annually due to misleading date labels.
According to SPD parliamentary group vice chair, Esra Limbacher, millions of tons of perfectly good food are unnecessarily discarded because of “best before” dates, particularly on products with extended shelf lives. The sheer volume of waste is substantial, estimated to fill Berlin’s Olympic Stadium roughly 50 times each year.
The proposed shift seeks to differentiate between “best before” dates, which indicate optimal quality and “use by” dates, which relate to safety. Supporters argue that the current system unnecessarily encourages consumers to discard food that remains perfectly safe and palatable well beyond the “best before” date.
While the current coalition agreement – formed by the conservative Union parties and the SPD – acknowledges the importance of tackling food waste and supporting charitable organizations like food banks (“Tafeln”), it lacks a concrete commitment to reform date labeling. The renewed proposal aims to instigate a more targeted and impactful approach to reducing food waste within the country.
