A Westcountry MP has welcomed Government plans to remove sell-by dates from food packaging in a bid to cut down on the soaring cost of food waste.

The new regulations mean produce must be labelled with one date only – either a "best before" or "use by".

"Sell-by" or "display until" dates, which do not mean that food and drink is unsafe and are used for stock control reasons, will no longer be used.

Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman said: "We want to end the food labelling confusion and make it clear once and for all when food is good and safe to eat.

"This simpler and safer date labelling guide will help households cut down on the £12 billion worth of good food that ends up in the bin."

The Countryside Alliance called on the Government to go further and do more on country of origin food labelling.

Farming minister Jim Paice is demanding that labels which imply that meat and fish comes from Britain when it does not should be scrapped.

Some supermarkets continue to stock generic brands with fictional place names to cover several British suppliers. Loopholes still exist allowing producers to market "Great British" ready meals even though the meat content comes from abroad, which undermines farmers in the region.

But Westcountry MP Andrew George, the Liberal Democrat's food spokesman, has welcomed the move.

The St Ives MP said: "Anything which is clearer, saves money, and prevents waste has to be a good thing.

"The British Retail Consortium is also correct that the public want clear advice on food safety and storage.

"The next this has to be getting rid of all of the complex small print about nutrition and go for a simple traffic light system for salt, sugar, and fat."