Buying Food That’s Past Its Prime to Save the Planet

SCHAGEN, The Netherlands â€" This tiny town in North Holland has a new attraction. Since the beginning of the year, the local grocer has been selling nearly expired food from a makeshift outlet supermarket. Both customers and distributors are lining up.

In the rudimentary store, only open for business on weekends, a box of Pickwick Winter Glow herbal tea, which cost up to €3 (about $4) when it was on sale in a regular supermarket last December, now goes for 75 cents (about $1). A container of yogurt that is set to expire in a day, costs 50 cents, a quarter of its original price.

Because the food sold at Outlet Stam is nearing its “best by” date, customers get a 30 to 70 percent discount.

“I just hate food waste,” said Willem Jan Stam who opened the outlet right behind the town’s conventional grocery store, which has been in his family for nearly a century.

The popularity of food that is close to its expirationdate is growing both in Europe and North America as consumers become more cost-conscious. In Britain, approvedfood.co.uk website sells food that is close to past its prime at a discount. In France, the “destockage” chain Noz has 207 outlets that sell food and beverages, along with out-of-date or factory-rejected consumer goods. In the American state of Pennsylvania, Amelia’s Grocery Outlet, recently opened its sixteenth store.

Doug Rauch, a former chief executive of Trader Joe’s, has launched the Urban Food Initiative, which would sell expired foods to the needy at a fraction of their price, according to reports.

Though driven by consumers’ economics, the trend of buying food past its quality sell-by date is al! so a step in reducing food waste in a world where starvation still exists.

According to the United Nations, 1.3 billion tons of food are lost or wasted each year. A group of British engineers estimates that up to half of all farm-produced food is thrown out, sometimes because the food is not attractive enough for supermarkets.

“For anyone who wants to cut down on their grocery bill, I think it’s great,” said Janice Revell, co-founder of the American website stilltasty.com about buying food close to or past its expiry date.

According to Ms. Revell, whose website bills itself as the ultimate guide to shelf life, food producers in the United States put “best before” dates on their products based on internal quality and taste tests. Despite the stamped dates, many canned products â€" especially those low in acidâ€" can last years if stored properly.

“It’s a quality issue, it has nothing to do with safety,” she said, noting that some foods, such as baby foods, do have a hard expiration date.

“The industry is just pushing food on the market,” said Mr. Stam, who says distributors are happy to sell him products cheaply because they fear having to pay to dispose of them.

The outlet store’s popularity here has surprised even Mr. Stam who says he gets 500 to 600 customers, mostly from out of town, during the 10 hours he keeps the store open every weekend. Several Dutch TV channels have put the store on the map.

The clientele comes from a mix of economic backgrounds, with wealthier customers often buying bulk.

“I have many Mercedeses in the parking lot,” he said.

The contradiction of massive global food waste and starvation has received renewed high-level attention.

“It is a well-known fact that current levels of production are sufficient, yet millions of ! people ar! e still suffering and dying of starvation. This is truly scandalous,” said Pope Francis, addressing the 38th session of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization that ended on Saturday in Rome.

Do you eat food that’s past its “best by” date? Do you buy food that is past its prime? Why or why not?