Many of us are feeling the pinch as the cost-of-living rises, but which region is losing money (and harming the planet) through food waste? A recent study by Currys uncovered which region is wasting the most food, along with methods people use to tell when food is off. Plus, they enlisted the expertise of microbiologist, Dr Jonathan Hughes to learn how to safely store food items.

Who wastes the most food?

Food waste is a huge problem in the UK, with 7 million tons of food wasted every year. Taking a deep dive into the data, here’s who’s behind our food waste problem, and who we can learn from:

Greater London is the most wasteful area in the UK.
Men (58%) throw away more food than women.
Millennials waste more food than any other generation (25%)
Households in Greater London earning between £15 to £25k annually are least likely to bin leftover food (64%). In second and third place are households earning over £35k per year (66%) and £65-£75k per year (71%).

How long do people store items for?

While some use-by dates are very clear, like the ones on meat and dairy, some of them, such as ketchup and mayonnaise, aren’t common knowledge. We wanted to find out how long Greater London are keeping common food items. Here’s what the survey divulged:

17% of Greater London will keep their ketchup for up to six months, despite Heinz Tomato Ketchup bottles stating it should be refrigerated once open and eaten within eight weeks.
13% of Greater London admit to keeping their mayonnaise for up to half a year even though Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise recommends using the product within three months.

What methods people use to tell if food and drink items have gone off

To some, the ‘Use By’ date is more like a guideline rather than set rules and to others, they’re as good as law. We discovered that over 18% of Greater London have given themselves food poisoning in the past, but how do they figure out if food or drink items are still okay to consume?