David Robert Lambert

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates as much as 40 percent of all food grown, produced and shipped in the U.S. will never be eaten.

A confusing system of food labeling has led to consumers throwing away billions of dollars worth of food products every year, and much of that food is completely safe to eat.

“A lot of people confuse quality and safety,” food research scientist Linda Harris said. “That’s a big problem.”

Harris is the chair of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis. She said most food is perfectly safe to eat past the date on the label. That’s because most dates on food are not “expiration” dates. They actually tell consumers when peak freshness or flavor drops off.

“The date is meant to signal quality,” Harris said. “It’s not a safety issue.”  “It’s not illegal to sell a product past its ‘best-by’ date,” she said.

The only items required by federal law to be labeled for expiration are infant formula and some baby foods; some states also mandate pulling dairy from store shelves on the expiration date.  The actual term “Expiration Date” refers to the last date a food should be eaten or used.

The labeling “sell by” tells the store how long to display the product for sale.  This is basically a guide for the retailer, so the store knows when to pull the item.  The “sell by” date is the last day the item is at its highest level of quality, but it will still be edible for some time after.

“Best if used by (or before)” date. This refers strictly to quality, not safety. This date is recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.

Ref 1: ‘Use By’ Dates on Food Create Consumer Confusion, June 19, 2018
https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/Use-By-Dates-on-Food-Create-Consumer-Confusion-485818791.html

Ref 2: Do Food Expiration Dates Really Matter? – WebMD
https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/features/do-food-expiration-dates-matter

Ref 3: Wasted: How America Is Losing Up to 40 Percent of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill
https://www.nrdc.org/resources/wasted-how-america-losing-40-percent-its-food-farm-fork-landfill

Ref 4: USDA Office of the Chief Economist
https://www.usda.gov/oce/foodwaste/faqs.htm

This entry was posted on 2018/11/07 at 21:47 and is filed under Food & Culinary Arts, General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.