Supermarkets in the UK have been accused of offering misleading and confusing guidelines to their shoppers regarding the freezing of meat.

A study conducted by the group ‘Ask the Q’ looked at six fresh meat lines sold at 11 retailers across the UK. It found that 75% of the stores recommend freezing their own fresh meat lines on the ‘day of purchase’, while 10 of the retailers recommended consuming frozen meat within a month.

The group said the advice is in stark contrast to those of experts – fresh food can be safely frozen until the ‘Use by’ date, and frozen food remains safe indefinitely. Ask the Q said the conflicting advice is resulting in large quantities of meat being thrown away.

Anya Hart Dyke, founder of Ask the Q, noted: “Half of all food waste generated in the UK arises in our homes and meat freezing guidelines that play on consumer fears about food poisoning are leading to unnecessary waste. This is bad for the wallet and a horrible waste of the resources that have gone into rearing the animal.”

She added: “We are calling on retailers to clearly state, with no qualification, on all of their freezable fresh meat products that they can be safely frozen up until their useby date and that meat frozen at home should be eaten within a certain timeframe for quality purposes only. They should also consider revising universal ‘consume within one month’ guidance in favour of different timeframes for different meat products, as recommended by the Food Standards Agency.”