Brain past it's use by date?

In the papers, on the radio and TV they've all been banging on about all the confusion over sell-by dates and use buy dates on food and now the government want to introduce a new system to reduce food waste. I dread to think how much money the various goverment departments involved have wasted to come up with this theory.  I just don't get it - firstly can people not use their sense of smell and their eyes to tell when food is off?  I often buy stuff from the reduced section in supermarkets but only if it looks a healthy colour (some of the meat is starting to turn a green colour and I'd never buy that).  You often see food that's well within it's date but which looks decidedly iffy and I certainly don't buy that either. The dates aren't  reliable anyway- I often find  things like pre-packed salad and vegetables and cole slaw go off well before their supposed use by date and other things are fine long past the date.  Surely it's just a matter of using your common sense.  Secondly I just don't believe that food waste is down to sell by dates - it's simply because people buy too much food in the first place and fail to plan meals properly - you only have to go into a supermarket in the run up to Christmas/Easter or any other bank holiday to see people loading up their trolleys with incredible amounts of food as if the shops are never going to open again!  Far too many people are tempted into buying things that are on offer or are "buy one get one free" - even when they probably know that they are unlikely to use it and can't freeze it.  It's simple really just buy what you need and can use!