A Best Before / Use By thread...

[andrewc]

Tonights feast was a tin of M&S Hot Beef Curry.  Best before before June 2017...... must be from the first batch of my Brexshit stash....

[Cudzoziemiec]

Marks & Spencer is taking "best before" dates off more than 300 fruit and vegetable items to tackle food waste.

They will be replaced by a code that M&S staff can use to check freshness and quality.

I'm curious what this code will be other than a best before in a format that the public can't read. Any ideas?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62199657

[Pickled Onion]

Marks & Spencer is taking "best before" dates off more than 300 fruit and vegetable items to tackle food waste.

They will be replaced by a code that M&S staff can use to check freshness and quality.

I'm curious what this code will be other than a best before in a format that the public can't read. Any ideas?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62199657

[old git mode]
When bread stopped coming in waxed paper and instead came in plastic bags, the tag used to tie the bag was colour-coded so the shop owner knew which was the oldest. It wasn't long before everyone else knew the secrit mnemonic "Buy Our Perishable Goods Yesterday" = Blue (for Monday), Orange, Purple, Green, Yellow.

I assume the modern version will be a QR or Bar code that employees can scan, but will equally take no time at all for apps to be available for anyone who cares.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Yeah, so that QR code or whatever they use is actually a best before code. But is there another way to "check freshness and quality" using a "code" that isn't in effect a date?

[CommuteTooFar]

I bought milk from Asda and the four pint bottle went off before the use by date.  I assume it is the hot weather.  My brother had the same problem.

[Kim]

Yeah, so that QR code or whatever they use is actually a best before code. But is there another way to "check freshness and quality" using a "code" that isn't in effect a date?

Sure, the code could be a meaningless unique ID that can be looked up in a database to obtain salient information such as date and place of manufacture, batch number, when it was put on the shelf, etc.  Some of that might even be useful - I'm imagining being able to flag a batch for early removal across all stores.

Bonus points if the code is also read at point of sale.  Then you can do statistical analysis and determine how long they're spending on the shelves, and buy someone else's carrots next year if it seems that for some unknown reasons customers don't like the ones from CDC Farms Ltd.

I'm not sure removal of best before dates is actually a good idea, given all the anosmia from COVID-19.  I've seen what happens in Postman Piers's fridge when he doesn't have someone with a working nose around...