The UK government is preparing to make significant changes to food labelling practices in an effort to reduce food waste. The new guidelines issued last month will simplify date marks to make it easier for shoppers to know when food can be eaten and when it should be thrown away.The new guidelines recommend that 'display-until' or 'sell-by' dates are removed from packaging as these can be confusing to customers.VOICE believes that we need similar changes in food labelling in Ireland. Food waste is a serious environmental issue in this country with households throwing away a third on average of all food. The simplification of food date labels would help shoppers reduce the amount of food they throw out and save money.To find out more about the new UK food date labelling guidelines, visit DEFRA: http://www.defra.gov.uk