Until 1980 there were no dates on food in Britain. Whether something was fit to eat was decided by the person about to cook it, using her nose. You will have watched your mother do it. The lid off the milk and a sniff. A thumb pressed into the joint. The fish held up and looked in the eye. She knew, in about 2 seconds, and she was never wrong. It was a skill, handed from mother to daughter over the sink, and it ran deeper than checking for bad. - Beef was meant to be dark, having hung at the butcher's for 3 or 4 weeks - A pheasant hung by the neck until it was properly high - Mutton was kept until it had flavour - Milk on the turn was not thrown out, it was baked with - Cheese with a bloom on it had the bloom cut off Meat that has been aged is more tender and tastes of more. Every butcher and every cook understood that time, handled properly, improves an animal. In 1980 date marks became law. The printed number was only ever the manufacturer's cautious guess, but within a generation it had replaced the judgement entirely. Nobody was taught to sniff, because the packet would tell you. So now a steak that is at its very best goes in the bin because it is Thursday. Bright red beef, barely a week from the abattoir, is preferred because it looks fresh. British households throw away millions of tonnes of food a year, much of it unopened.Until 1980 there were no dates on food in Britain. Whether something was fit to eat was decided by the person about to cook it, using her nose. You will have watched your mother do it. The lid off the milk and a sniff. A thumb pressed into the joint. The fish held up and looked in the eye. She knew, in about 2 seconds, and she was never wrong. It was a skill, handed from mother to daughter over the sink, and it ran deeper than checking for bad. - Beef was meant to be dark, having hung at the butcher's for 3 or 4 weeks - A pheasant hung by the neck until it was properly high - Mutton was kept until it had flavour - Milk on the turn was not thrown out, it was baked with - Cheese with a bloom on it had the bloom cut off Meat that has been aged is more tender and tastes of more. Every butcher and every cook understood that time, handled properly, improves an animal. In 1980 date marks became law. The printed number was only ever the manufacturer's cautious guess, but within a generation it had replaced the judgement entirely. Nobody was taught to sniff, because the packet would tell you. So now a steak that is at its very best goes in the bin because it is Thursday. Bright red beef, barely a week from the abattoir, is preferred because it looks fresh. British households throw away millions of tonnes of food a year, much of it unopened. For the whole of human history the final safety check on dinner was a mother's nose. We replaced it with a stamp, and trust the stamp over our own senses.
— Sama Hoole (@SamaHoole) October 9, 2026
For the whole of human history the final safety check on dinner was a mother's nose. We replaced it with a stamp, and trust the stamp over our own senses.
