Lidl to remove ‘use-by’ dates on own-brand milk and yoghurt

The discount supermarket is removing use-by dates on its yoghurt and fresh milk ranges, and will replace them with ‘best before’ dates to prevent “entirely edible food being thrown away”.

Lidl is the latest retailer to switch to best-before dates on dairy products to encourage customers to use their judgement to decide whether to eat or drink them.

The grocer’s updated milk packaging started to enter stores this month across England and Wales, while the change to yoghurt packaging will be implemented in early 2024. 

The new initiative joins existing actions taken by Lidl to limit food waste. Another scheme includes its Too Good to Waste boxes, which helped reduce food waste by 17,000 tonnes each year by selling 5kg of leftover fruit and vegetables for £1.50.

Lidl GB head of buying Richard Inglis said: “At Lidl, we know that a lot of perfectly good milk and yoghurt is being thrown away because of use by dates. It therefore makes total sense to us to make the switch to best before so that shoppers can use their judgement on whether their milk or yoghurt is good to consume.

”We’ve got a long record of making positive changes to reduce food waste and this latest step builds on our commitment to helping households tackle food waste at home.”