CEO of recycling and food waste charity Wrap, Marcus Gover, has welcomed Morrisons’ plans to scrap ‘use by’ dates on most of its milk in a bid to reduce food waste.

The retailer will replace ‘use by’ labels on 90% of its own-brand milk with ‘best before’ labels. The company also plans to encourage customers to use the sniff test to check the quality of the product.

Morrisons has already scrapped ‘use by’ dates across some of its own-brand yogurt and hard cheese ranges.

According to Wrap, milk is the third most wasted food and drink product in the UK, with roughly 490 million pints wasted every year. As part of its Food Trends and KPI survey, the company found that potatoes and bread are the most wasted foods in Britain today.

Gover said: “I am delighted that Morrisons is the first UK supermarket to take this important step to help reduce household food waste – it shows real leadership and we look forward to more retailers reviewing date labels on their products and taking action.”

A spokesperson for the Food Standards Agency said the ‘best before’ label is sufficient for milk, but not for all food or drink products.