I can't talk about the EU level, but in Germany merchands can legally sell goods that exceeded the Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum (best before) if they're certain tha

I can't talk about the EU level, but in Germany merchands can legally sell goods that exceeded the Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum (best before) if they're certain that the goods are not dangerous. So they could sell honey past the date. Food (or medication for that matter) that has reached the Verfallsdatum (expiry date) can't be sold. The best before date on canned goods is more of an indicator that the beans haven't fallen apart completely or the peach still tastes somewhat like peach. I somewhat doubt that canned goods are the primary driver of food waste on a distribution-chain level. They're usually good for a couple of years, any supermarket that can't sell its stock of canned beans in that time frame will go out of business.