Tesco is ditching best before dates from 116 fruit and vegetable lines in a bid to cut back on unnecessary food waste. 

Packs of fresh fruit and veg including apples, oranges, cabbages and asparagus will no longer carry the label. 

Earlier this year, Tesco stripped the best before date from 70 lines. At the time it gave as reasoning for the move the fact that many customers were “confused” over what the labels meant.

Supermarket packaging often carries a best before and a use-by date. Best before denotes only the quality of the food, whereas use-by indicates when it should be eaten by for health and safety reasons. 

Tesco said research it has commissioned shows 69 per cent of customers believe scrapping best before dates is a good idea and that 53 per cent believe scrapping best before dates would help them keep fresh food for longer.  

 Mark Little, head of food waste reduction at the supermarket chain, said: “Removing best before dates is our way of making it easier for customers to reduce food waste at home and save money in the process.

“It’s simply not right that food goes to waste and we’re going to do everything we can to help.”

WRAP, a charity campaigning against food waste, estimates 10 million tonnes of food are wasted each year.