6 Minute English

6 Minute English
 
©British Broadcasting Corporation 2022 
bbclearningenglish.com 
Page 3 of 5 
Sam 
Usually middlemen are 
commissioned 
–
they received a payment from the 
supermarkets directly related to the amo
unt they sell. But with Josefina’s online 
shop, farmers get a fair price for their food, customers get high-quality, fresh 
vegetables, and less food is wasted. 
Neil 
Another problem is that we throw away food after we’ve bought it. In fact, 
the UN 
estimates th
at 60 percent of food waste happens in this way, often because it’s 
past the 
use-by date
and might not be safe to eat. 
Sam 
But according to green designer, Solveiga Pakstaite, these 
use-by dates
aren't 
always accurate, something she discussed with BBC Wor
ld Service’s, People Fixing 
The World. 
Jo Mathys
Well, food makers don’t know how people will keep their products, so for instance, 
they might forget to put their groceries straight in the fridge when they get home. 
So what they do is they calculate the 
use-by date
using a very cautious estimate. 
Solveiga Pakstaite 
Food producers and supermarkets… they kind of have to calculate it to the 
worst-
case scenario
because they don't know which product is going to get stored at the 
wrong temperature, so they have to 
blanket apply
a shorter date to protect 
consumers. 
Neil 
Supermarkets set cautious 
use-by dates
for the 
worst-case scenario
–
the worst 
case that could possibly happen in a situation, for example, someone getting sick 
and dying of food poisoning. In other words, they 
blanket
apply