Is there a glaring difference in taste between a smoked salmon whose use-by date expires in 3 days or in more than two weeks?
For Sarah Mouchon, the answer is no.
“Ah, it's hard, I thought it would have been easier, especially with fresh produce,” notes this chef at the head of the Holybelly restaurant, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris.
Several supermarket chains offer cut prices on products with short use-by dates (BBD)… Attractive prices sometimes two to three times cheaper than fresher products.
We had the chef test five products from different supermarkets: each time, one had a short use-by date (BBD) and the other a long BBD.
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Among the products to be compared blindly, the chef tasted two slices of stewed ham: there were three days of expiry date left for one and more than two weeks for the other.
"Honestly, I don't see any difference, they both taste the same."
In terms of price, however, the difference is significant: our ham bought in a discount supermarket cost 0.99 euros, while it cost 1.89, almost double in a supermarket.
Same observation for the wild smoked salmon: impossible for the chef to determine which has a short DLC.
But the price difference is significant: 3.50 euros for 5 installments with short DLC… And more than 9 euros for 4 installments of the same brand with long DLC.
A “crazy” price difference, reacts Sarah Mouchot.
For chips and beer with short and long DLC, the difference in taste is more palpable, especially for beer, the chef is surprised.
"In any case, for the products we tasted, no difference in taste is really obvious," says the owner of Holybelly.
"Finally, DLC products are a good idea, it allows less waste and the customer to pay less for a product that expires quickly, so it's a good idea".
