Time Is Money

By Lu Yan

As an office clerk at a large Web technology company in Beijing， Peng Jiahui likes to go to the supermarket as a way to unwind after work. The nearly expired goods section is a spot that she frequents. Discounts that can go as low as 90 percent give her joy. Peng， a lover of snacks， cant help buying a basketful of nearly expired food and go home with a sense of satisfaction.

Vendors often sell nearly expired food at lower prices to quickly reduce stocks as the food items approach their expiration date. In 2020， the total output value of Chinas snack food industry exceeded 3 trillion yuan （$464 billion）. Even if calculated by 1-percent inventory， the market size of the nearly expired food industry should be 30 billion yuan （$4.6 billion）， and it has huge growth potential， showed a report by iiMedia Research， a data-mining and analysis company.

“Although the products are near expiration， they are not expired. Is there any reason not to buy what you like for less money？” Peng told Beijing Review. “For me， its like a treasure hunt full of surprises.”

Quality and affordability

About 48 percent of the nearly expired food consumers are aged 26 to 35， and most consumers buy such food mainly out of impulse， according to iiMedia Research. “When I stand in front of the near-expiration section of the supermarket， I cant help thinking if I dont take them， it will be my loss. As I always go home with a full bag， sometimes I have to overeat so as to finish them in time，” Peng， 29， said.

In terms of the definition of nearly expired food， there is currently no clear national standard， but some provinces and cities have adopted regulations on it. For example， Beijing launched a regulation in 2012， giving definitions for nearly expired food. According to the citys standard， the shorter the shelf life of the food is， the shorter nearly expired period it gets. Most canned food， candies and biscuits which have shelf life of one year or longer can be categorized as nearly expired food when there are 45 days before expiration； for fresh milk and tofu in boxes that have a shelf life of fewer than 15 days， they can be called nearly expired food when there are one to four days left before the use-by date. There are more categories in between.

Besides stipulating similar definitions， Shanghai also regulates labels for nearly expired food. It is stipulated that if regular food is sold in a bundle with nearly expired food， or the latter is used as a gift， a “near expiration date” label shall be affixed to the nearly expired food where it is noticeable for consumers. When being bundled， the production date and shelf life of the food must not be covered.