Press ReleaseToo Good To Go Introduces 'Look-Smell-Taste' Initiative to Empower Everyone in Canada to Prevent Food Waste at Home

Local and international food brands will integrate Too Good To Go’s label encouraging everyone in Canada to trust their senses before discarding good food.

TORONTO, ON / ACCESSWIRE / June 18, 2024 / In Canada, almost half of the food we waste occurs at a household level. To address this, Too Good To Go, the certified B Corp social impact company behind the world's largest marketplace for surplus food, is thrilled to announce the launch of a new-to-Canada initiative, called 'Look-Smell-Taste'.

"This initiative is the result of a powerful coalition between Too Good To Go and some of the world's leading food & beverage brands to incorporate a bespoke ‘Look-Smell-Taste' label on their product packaging. The ‘Look-Smell-Taste' label inspires and reminds consumers that a product could still be perfectly edible despite being past its Best Before date. It encourages everyone to trust their senses, and assess the food based on its look, smell and taste before wasting it," says Andrea Li, Country Director of Too Good To Go Canada.

Best Before: a misunderstood date that leads to food waste

The Best Before date indicates how long a food product will keep its optimal quality. It also means "often good after": most items will last beyond their Best Before date, if they are unopened and stored properly. The expiration date is required only on certain foods that have strict compositional and nutritional specifications, and is a safety indicator that should always be respected.

Research conducted by Too Good To Go and Léger shows that:

• 92% of people in Canada check the date on a food item before consuming it.
• Yet, 4 in 10 say they throw out food past their Best Before date at least once a week.
• "Not consumed before the date" is the second most frequent reason why people discard food at home in Canada.
• The global initiative empowers everyone in Canada to trust their senses

Since launching the Too Good To Go app in Canada in the summer of 2021, Too Good To Go has helped more than 11,000 businesses in Canada and more than 2.5 million consumers to save more than 5 million meals from going to waste. The 'Look-Smell-Taste' initiative is designed to further empower everyone to take action against food waste, at home. By trusting our senses, we can make more informed decisions, reduce food waste, and help our planet. Canada joins 13 European countries where this initiative is already active, and reinforces the company's mission to inspire everyone to fight food waste together.

To raise awareness about the importance of using our senses when assessing the food past its Best Before date and drive sustainable change, Too Good To Go is partnering with manufacturers and retailers across the country. From dairy items to beverages, from snacks to condiments, major food brands have already joined the ‘Look-Smell-Taste' initiative in Canada: Ristorante (Dr. Oetker), Shirriff (Dr. Oetker), Bel Group, Barry Callebaut, Greenhouse, Sunny Fruit, Flirt Drinks, Epic Tofu, Righteous Gelato, Terry's (Chocolate Orange), Kopi Thyme, Capel Foods, Healtea and MLR Freeze Dried Treats. Since 2019, more than 500 brands across the world have agreed to print our bespoke ‘Look-Smell-Taste' label on more than 6 billion packs of products annually.

"These pioneering brands are the first to integrate the ‘Look-Smell-Taste' label alongside the Best Before date on their packaging. We are proud to collaborate with our coalition partners to reshape our country's approach to food and waste. More partners will be announced in upcoming months, and we invite all mission-driven companies to join us. Fighting food waste starts at home," concludes Li.

In bringing this global initiative to Canada, Too Good To Go has consulted with Dr. Sylvain Charlebois, Professor in food distribution and policy at Agri-Food Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University, an expert in the field. Said Dr. Charlebois, "this initiative focuses on empowering consumers to make informed decisions about food rescuing by challenging the misconceptions around Best Before dates. The key message is that Best Before does not imply 'bad after.' Consumers are encouraged to use their senses-look, smell, and taste-to judge the quality of food. This is reinforced through the addition of a 'Look-Smell-Taste' label, which prompts consumers to consider the edibility of food before deciding to discard it."

Too Good To Go invites all food businesses who are interested in helping consumers reduce household food waste to join the ‘Look-Smell-Taste' initiative by visiting tgtg-label.com.

About Too Good To Go

Too Good To Go is a certified B Corp social impact company, on a mission to inspire and empower everyone to fight food waste together. Since its launch in 2016, Too Good To Go has helped to save over 330 million meals from going to waste, the equivalent to avoiding 891,000 tonnes of CO2e, 267 billion litres of unnecessary water use and 924 million m2 of land use per year.

40% of all food produced is wasted every year, contributing to 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions (WWF, 2021). According to Project Drawdown (2020), reducing food waste is the number one action you can take to help tackle climate change, by limiting the temperature rise to just 2˚C by 2100.

With 95 million registered users and 160,000 active partners across 18 countries across Europe and North America, Too Good To Go operates the world's largest marketplace for surplus food.