People are being encouraged to do a sniff test on milk in a bid to reduce waste.

Morrisons supermarket is scrapping its 'use by' date on 90 per cent of its own brand milk from the end of this month.

Instead, the supermarket is encouraging its customers to smell the milk instead to check if it is still fresh.

The milk packaging will show ‘best before’ dates to indicate to customers when they should drink it by to get the best taste.

Milk is the third most wasted food and drink product in the UK, after potatoes and bread, with around 490 million pints wasted every year.

Research shows fresh milk can often last a number of days past the ‘Use By’ date shown on the bottle. However UK customers are routinely throwing away milk - as they incorrectly believe the milk is unsafe to drink.

WRAP estimates that 85 million pints of milk waste may be a result of customers sticking to ’Use By’ labels or ‘once opened use within’ guidance - when products may still be good to consume.

Ian Goode, senior milk buyer at Morrisons, said: “Wasted milk means wasted effort by our farmers and unnecessary carbon being released into the atmosphere.

"Good quality well-kept milk has a good few days life after normal ‘Use By’ dates - and we think it should be consumed not tipped down the sink.

"So we’re taking a bold step today and asking customers to decide whether their milk is still good to drink.

"Generations before us have always used the sniff test - and I believe we can too.”