1. Introduction: The food waste problem and technological solutions
Up to 57 million tonnes of food are wasted per year in the European Union (EU) and, according to a report issued by the European Commission in 2018, 10% of this food waste could be linked to date marking. The EU has committed to reducing food waste by 50% by 2030, in line with target 12.3 of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development. To achieve this objective, a reform is needed in the way food is being labelled and distributed.
The Resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 25 September 2015 showed that date marking can diminish avoidable food waste (edible materials of a food product that could have been consumed but become waste). This happens when consumers have a good understanding of the labelling, as long as the date mark is present, clear, and legible. Smart packaging can impact visual and tactile indications of information regarding date marks/wording, food safety risk levels, product life, and storage guidance. Thus, by providing a more accurate determination of shelf life and by better informing the consumer, smart labels can actually reduce food waste.
Currently in the EU, the producer has the responsibility of determining a product’s shelf life, usually without the intervention of the national competent authorities. Hence, dates are set mostly by food business operators, which, to prioritise food safety, tend to take into consideration worst case scenarios for consumers and/or retailer behaviour, since it is impossible to previously know exactly the conditions under which the food will be stored until its consumption.
Consequently, food tech companies have been developing technological tags with in-package sensors that continuously monitor internal microbial growth, informing about the food’s status in real time on the tag. One example of so-called ‘dynamic shelf-life labels’ is developed by the company Innoscentia. This technological label includes a circle that changes colour up until the time when the food product should be consumed. However, it does not show a specific fixed date (day, month, and year format) until when the product can be safely eaten.
The tags are intuitive to read and provide the consumer with accurate information, fulfilling the two criteria of clear consumer information and shelf life date accuracy to successfully reduce food waste. However, it is important to assess whether the applicable European legislation imposes any obstacles to these technological labels, such as any specific requirements not met by them.
2. Date marking legal framework in the European Union
The principles of food safety in the European Union are stated in Regulation (EC) 178/2002, which establishes in its Article 17(1) that food business operators shall ensure their products satisfy the relevant requirements of food law. The EU determines microbiological criteria to ascertain food safety, such as those set forth in Regulation (EC) 2073/2005. These conditions can be accurately measured by dynamic shelf-life label technology, ensuring food safety and compliance with the existing law.
Regulation (EU) 1169/2011 on the provision of food information to consumers establishes that the date of minimum durability or the ‘use by’ date is mandatory information on the package or label of prepackaged food products, meaning food packaged outside sales premises before being offered for sale. In the case of non-prepackaged food, based on Article 44(1)(b) of the referred Regulation, Member States can adopt national measures to make date marking mandatory and determine its means. As such, date marking rules for non-prepackaged food are not harmonised across Member States.
Nevertheless, the Regulation establishes in its Annex X how the minimum durability and/or ‘use by’ dates shall be indicated on prepackaged food, stating that “the date shall consist of the day, the month and, possibly, the year, in that order and in uncoded form”. In certain cases, there is not the need for the complete date, with only the day and month, or only the month and year, or only the year being sufficient in these cases.
Therefore, while symbols can effectively convey various food-related information, when it comes to date marking, a distinct numeric date format is necessary. Yet the current models of dynamic shelf-life labels do not necessarily comply with this requirement.
Other considerations to be made include products subject to special regulations setting out specific minimum durability periods, such as eggs, on which dates shall be fixed according to their class, as stated in Article 11 of Regulation (EC) 589/2008. Such rules on specific date marking can also exist in Member States concerning non-prepackaged food, due to the absence of harmonisation across the EU. In these cases, a dynamic shelf-life label would also not comply with the applicable legislation, which requires a specific non-dynamic date.
3. Conclusion: The European Union is not ready for dynamic shelf-life labels
Dynamic shelf-life labels are an innovative technology that can reduce food waste and help the EU achieve its sustainability goal for 2030. In this sense, this technology could prove crucial to improving the accuracy of food labelling by measuring microbiological conditions in real time and informing consumers in a more intuitive way.
However, certain EU provisions may be incompatible with the most innovative type of dynamic shelf-life labels, that do not necessarily comply with the obligations of numeric date formats, nor does it adhere to specific rules for non-dynamic date marking, such as those applicable to eggs. Finally, the absence of harmonisation regarding non-prepackaged food products could also impact the spread of these smart labels, given that their implementation would depend on whether the law of the Member State accepts the dynamism and symbolic representation of such labels for non-prepackaged food. Thus, some changes – either in food legislation or the configuration of this new technology – are still necessary to ensure the lawfulness of these innovations and to promote the intended food waste reduction.
