The dangerous cost-of-living grocery habit we need to stop
Picture this: You’re standing in front of the fridge, holding a packet of beef mince that passed its expiry date yesterday, and take a cautious sniff.
It’s a scene playing out in kitchens across Australia, and honestly, who can blame us? With grocery prices at record highs – and global tensions like the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East threatening to push supply chain costs even higher – discarding of food feels like throwing money straight into the bin.
With grocery prices at record highs, who can blame us for avoiding binning our food? Jo Abi
If it smells OK, it’s tempting to think it’s safe. Unfortunately, when it comes to some food items, you can’t trust your nose at all.
Food scientist Dr Emma Beckett told nine.com.au when it comes to two food groups, items should go in the bin as soon as the ‘use by’ date has expired.
“If it’s a food with a ‘best before’ date, or something like a fruit or a vegetable ... you can trust your nose, your sight, all your senses [to assess it],” she said.
“But if it’s a ‘use by’ date, that’s where we might not be able to trust our senses because there’s bacteria in some foods that can produce toxins that we cannot taste or smell or see.”
These include uncooked packets of meat, chicken, and fish, and dairy items like milk and cheese.
And no, cooking the meat won’t remove the bacteria in that expired meat. Freezing meat packets will delay the expiry date, Beckett confirmed, but this too comes with its own expiration date.
“If you pop something in the freezer with one day to go to its use by date, that’s going to give you one day to use it once you take it out of the freezer,” she said.
“The freezer almost halts any kind of bacterial growth.”
We’ve all used the “sniff test”, but with some foods, our noses really aren’t to be trusted. AP
Confusion of food expiration dates is leading to unnecessary waste. Jo Abi
She added that foods in the freezer “don’t last forever” and meat shouldn’t be kept in there longer than six months.
With fruit and vegetables, Beckett said it is safe to use a visual check before eating to ensure it’s safe, particularly with items that are normally peeled before eating.
However, anything slimy or with mould goes straight in the bin and leftovers, including rice and pasta, have their own rules.
“Rice and pasta are OK to put in the fridge and use as leftovers. We want to make sure they go in the fridge promptly, so any pasta or rice that’s been out at room temperature after cooking for more than two hours should go in the bin.
“When we reheat rice and pasta, we want to make sure we only reheat them one time and we reheat them well. Because if you reheat over and over again, you’re increasing the amount of time that food is in the danger zone and where bacteria can grow.”
Food products with “best before” dates on them operate under an entirely unique set of rules, which Nestlé is targeting as part of its campaign to reduce household food waste.
She said with fruit and vegetables, it is safe to use a visual check before eating. Jo Abi
Research from OzHarvest shows 58 per cent of high-wasting households admit to tossing food simply because they’re unsure about the dates, contributing to Australia’s 7.6 million tonnes of annual food waste.
To help educate the Australian public, Nestlé has launched ‘Sniff, Look, Taste’, a new pilot rolling out on selected Maggi 2 Minute Noodles packs.
Professor Simon Lockrey, RMIT University and End Food Waste CRC, reiterated to nine.com.au use by dates are “safety labels” and a health issue, whereas best before dates are largely a guide.
Leftover are safe to eat later if they have been placed in the fridge in under two hours. Jo Abi
“With ‘best before’ dates, we’re talking about a quality label rather than a safety label. These are the two types of labels that people conflate, they think they’re the same thing,” he said.
“In fact, up to 50 per cent of Australian households don’t know the difference between the two labels.”
He feels Australia’s “food literacy” has significantly decreased over the decades, as busy shoppers spend less and less time in the kitchen, preparing and cooking meals – something he is hoping to improve through this campaign.
“In some ways, the fridge and freezer should really be your friend in all of this,” Lockery said.
Fresh meat, chicken, and fish needs to be used before the expiration date, or frozen. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Gett
Fruit, vegetables, baked goods, and pantry staples need to be checked once the ‘best before’ date is reached. Nine
“People have lost even the skills to use the freezer and the fridge to their benefit in that kind of situation where you might have something that’s close to ‘use by’ or leftovers.
“If people can learn more of these food literacy dimensions and skills and knowledge, we’re going to be a lot better at one, being safe, two, being creative, and three, saving money and saving the planet at the same time.”
