Order of the day: Use it or lose it

Another near-expired goods provider, Shihuibang, founded in Tianjin, completed an angel round of funding of tens of millions of yuan in March last year. The Nanjing-based Little Elephant Life, which mainly sells expiring goods, completed a 10 million yuan angel round of funding the following month.

The boom in expiring food retailing is partly a result of an increase in the country's food production capacity and a huge inventory backlog, says Zhang Yi, chief executive and chief analyst of iiMedia Research.

Expiring food has a big market, but it used to be mostly hidden in the corners of large supermarkets, Zhang says.

Goods were overstocked at producers in the wake of the pandemic, and vendors snapped them up cheaply.

The trend has also been seen in the light of the country's adoption of an anti-food waste law a little more than a year ago.

Chinese cities waste about 18 billion kilograms of food every year, a report from a research team from the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress said in December 2020.

The law calls on supermarkets and shopping malls to strengthen food inspections and display near-expired items with special marks.

Experts say how to strengthen the supervision of near-expired goods, ensure food safety and promote standardized operations will be the key to the sustainable development of the niche market.

"It's important to be clear about the meaning of shelf life when discussing near-expired food," says Ruan Guangfeng, an expert with the China Food Information Center.

Shelf life is related to storage and package conditions, Ruan says.

Consumers need to store food as required, including those in refrigerators or places out of the sun.

"Near-expired food can be enjoyed, rest assured, in standard storage conditions and intact package, otherwise, they might go bad within the shelf life," Ruan says.

Ruan suggests consumers make appropriate arrangements to use goods before they reach their use-by date and business people take stock of their inventory regularly to clear or put those near-expired goods on sales in time.

Gao Bowen, a food-testing expert, cautioned shoppers to make rational purchases and not to stock too much that may lead to some goods eventually becoming expired.

"It is ideal to make certain how much you can consume, and multiple small purchases are recommended."

Gao suggests consumers shop at well-known and big-scale retailers, which are more likely to offer quality goods.

Grease-rich goods, such as biscuits, potato chips and nuts will lose any good taste they have if they are stored badly, he says.

Many supermarkets have special stalls for near-expired items, all of which are priced at 50-70 percent off.

Liao approves this approach and says business owners should fulfill their obligations to inform shoppers.

"To buy, or not to buy, it's completely up to you."