Food waste initiative ‘Too Good to Go’ has launched a ‘The Nose Sense’ campaign to encourage consumers to think beyond ‘best before’ dates on food and instead rely on their instincts as to whether something can no longer be eaten.

According to ‘Too Good to Go’ 660,000 tonnes of food is wasted in the UK alone with half of consumers obeying the date label. The scratch and sniff labels would encourage people to learn what food past its best actually smells like, thereby enabling them to make decisions themselves despite labelling.

Jamie Crummie, co-founder of Too Good to Go said; “Our love for food is stronger than ever since lockdown, but the food waste issue hurts both the environment and our pockets. Our mission is to help everyone fight food waste together. We want labelling to be clearer across the board, but also to help consumers better understand when they really must throw food away – and these “smell by” labels are a vital part of that journey.”

The labels can be ordered for free at https://toogoodtogo.co.uk/en-gb/blog/nosesense and they are considering working with retailers in the future to help the stickers reach package labelling.