Food waste, said to total a value of £6 billion a year or £680 per average family, is being tackled by the government in plans to scrap “best before” dates in favour of “eat by” dates, with warnings of the risks taken by eating out of date food, particularly meat, fish and eggs.

The BOGOF offers made by supermarkets have been blamed by some for the quantity subsequently dumped.

Supermarket ASDA does its bit for the waste food problem by adding an extra day to the use-by date of some fresh, marked-down items, presenting them as fresher than they really are.