The Date Debate: Assessing the Impact of Label Removal on Food Waste and Retail Patronage
Abstract: Household food waste is mounting, with high environmental, economic and moral consequences, and has partly been contributed to consumers throwing out food prematurely as a result of date labels. Although the removal of ‘best-before’ date labels from suitable food categories has been recommended to counter this, its potential effects on purchase behavior and attitudes towards retailers have been neglected. This talk discusses two related studies: (a) a quasi-experiment assessing the impact of Tesco's initiative to remove "best-before" labels from pre-packaged fresh produce on purchase behavior, and (b) a combination of sentiment analysis and experiments assessing consumer attitudes following date label removal. Results show significant variation in effects on purchase behavior based on shopping basket characteristics, as well as detrimental effects on attitudes and patronage intentions that can be mitigated through disclosure of the reason for date label removal. These insights offer valuable guidance for retailers aiming to reduce household food waste while balancing potential effects on consumer purchases and attitudes.
