According to the latest Consumer Insights report from Empathy Research, one in 5 Irish consumers (21%) believe use-by dates are a 'guideline' and not a 'deadline'.
Breaking this down by way of gender, females (24%) are significantly more likely to believe the use-by date on a product is more of a guideline than a deadline, compared to males (18%).
The study also found that over a third of Irish consumers (36%) say they purposely visit a supermarket at the end of the day to avail of heavily-discounted products due to their short sell-by date.
In addition, more than half of Irish consumers (58%) say they are concerned about food waste within their home. Looking at this by gender, 63% of females are likely to worry about household food waste, compared to only 53% of males. Despite this figure, less than two-fifths of Irish consumers (38%) have a compost bin at home, which they fill regularly.
Some 9% of Irish people say they would feel more inclined to shop in a local supermarket if they knew it donated food to charity. Significantly more males (11%) were of this opinion, compared to females (7%).
Younger age groups are also more likely to be of this opinion compared to older age groups, with more than one in 10 respondents aged 18-24 years old (14%) and 25-34 years olds (12%) saying they would be more inclined to shop in a local supermarket if they knew it donated food to charity.
Click here for more information from Empathy Research.
© 2016 - Checkout Magazine by Niall Swan
