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SELL-BY DATES: BEST IF USED WITH CARE
Director(s): Etienne DE CLERCK – Writer(s): Etienne DE CLERCK Contact Print page
All food products bear on their packaging a stamp indicating the expiry date.
Faced with a yogurt whose sell-by date is history, we can observe two types of behaviour. There are those who sincerely believe that on the night of the 27th a swarm of deadly bacteria would attack the food, thus condemning to the worst gastric suffering anyone approaching it too closely and, pronto, throw out the offending product. And there is the other option that consists of quickly gobbling up the food in question on the premise that it’s better to take a little health risk than to succumb to the major vice of our society: WASTE!
Both reactions – equally irrational – bring about the same effect: we rush back to the store to restock. In fact, the indication of expiry dates which was meant to protect us has become a “consumer accelerator”... What are these dates really good for? Are they reliable and truly credible? What do they reveal about our health anxieties and how do they influence our consumer patterns in a society that made it a priority to deal with the problem of waste?
This is the purpose of this investigation that undertakes a humorous exploration into the depths of our fridges and food cupboards.
AVAILABLE FOR SCREENING: French version only!