THERESA May could really make an impact with one simple national edict that bans the use of best by dates on food.

The food producers and the supermarkets love this best by date because consumers are conned into thinking they shouldn't eat food that is 'out of date' so they dump it, and buy younger replacements.

Food trade profits are boosted by the confusion with the valid health advisory 'eat by date' on food that can deteriorate very quickly, such as raw meat, poultry, fish, eggs and milk.

We customers should accept that if the can or packet isn't t damaged, and the contents look normal, and smell right then they are edible and shouldn't be wasted. Most cans are very acceptable up to two years beyond the date, with some as long as five.

Even biscuits, cereals, pasta and bread are safe to eat, though they might not be so crispy. Old bread can be toasted. Jam and such like is protected by its sugar content and can last for years.

Most of us take our food for granted, but we are the lucky ones. Up to one in six Americans go hungry and world wide there are many tens of millions who don't know where their next meal is coming from.

Closer to home the remarkable expansion of food bank support underlines the problem and with the world population still rising at one billion every fifteen years the demand for food can only increase.

In these circumstances it's shocking that all individuals in EU countries, and that still includes us, throw out about 100 kg of food waste each year, four fifths of which is still edible.

Farmers dump even more, because the vegetables might be irregular, or have a blemish and yet cooked you can't tell the difference. While it's difficult to believe it's suggested that almost half of the American food grown doesn't reach the table because of this stranglehold by the supermarkets and advertising leading to the conditioning of the customers.

All this waste food has a considerable environmental impact, with the CO2 producing energy that is wasted in ploughing, spraying, irrigating and harvesting, only for the wasted food to go to landfill where it decays and produces methane. There's also the energy wasted in the transport and processing, and the collection of all the thrown out waste.

The growing world population means that forests are being cut down to provide more land for crops when the alternative would be to use the crops we already produce more effectively, and waste less food.

We could also get into our gardens and public spaces and grow more food or even start an allotment epidemic.