Keep it or toss it? ‘Best Before’ labels cause confusion as concerns about food waste grow!

As awareness grows around the world about the problem of food waste, one culprit in particular warrants scrutiny: “best before” labels.

Manufacturers have used labels for decades to estimate peak freshness. Unlike “use by” labels, which are found on perishable foods such as meat and dairy, “best before” labels have nothing to do with safety and may encourage consumers to eliminate foods that can be eaten well.

“They read these dates and then assume they are bad, they can’t eat them and throw them in, when in fact these dates don’t mean they are inedible or still not nutritious or tasty,” he said. Patti Apple, a manager at Food Shift, a nonprofit in Alameda, California that collects and uses expired or incomplete foods.

To address the problem, major UK chains such as Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencer recently removed “best before” labels from prepackaged fruits and vegetables. The European Union is expected to announce an amendment to its labeling laws by the end of this year; He’s considering scrapping the “best before” labels altogether.

In the United States, there is no similar motive to scrap “Better Before” labels. But there is growing momentum to standardize language on date labels to help educate buyers about food waste, including a push from major grocers and food companies and bipartisan legislation in Congress.

“I think the level of support for this has grown tremendously,” said Dana Gunders, executive director of ReFED, a New York-based nonprofit organization that studies food waste.

The United Nations estimates that 17% of global food production is wasted each year. Most of that comes from families. ReFED says that up to 35% of the food available in the United States is not eaten. This adds up a lot of wasted energy – including the water, land and labor that goes into food production – and higher greenhouse gas emissions when unwanted food goes to landfills.

There are many reasons food is wasted, from large portion sizes to customers rejecting incomplete products. But ReFED estimates that 7% of food waste in the United States – or 4 million tons per year – is due to consumer confusion about “best before” labels.

Date labels were widely adopted by manufacturers in the 1970s to answer consumer concerns about product freshness. There are no federal rules governing it, and manufacturers are allowed to decide when they think their products will taste better. Only infant formula is required to have a US “useable before” date

Since 2019, the Food and Drug Administration — which regulates about 80% of food in the United States — has recommended manufacturers use “best if used by” labels for freshness and “use by” for perishable goods, based on surveys showing consumers that They understand that phrases.

But this effort is voluntary, and the language on the labels continues to vary widely, from “sell by” to “enjoyed” to “latest by”. A survey published by researchers at the University of Maryland in June found that at least 50 different date labels were used on grocery shelves in the United States and caused widespread confusion among customers.

“Most people think that if it’s ‘sell by’, ‘best by’ or ‘expired,’ you can’t eat any. That’s not really accurate,” said Richard Lipset, who owns a Pleasanton grocery store. California, specializing in discount foods.

Lipset said the milk can be safely consumed for up to a week after the “use by” date. Gunders said canned goods and many other packaged foods can be eaten safely for years beyond their “best before” date. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) suggests that consumers look for changes in color, consistency, or texture to determine if foods are appropriate to eat.

“Our bodies are well-equipped to recognize signs of decay, when food passes its edible point,” Gonders said. “We have lost faith in those senses and have replaced it with confidence in these dates.”

Some UK grocery chains actively encourage customers to use their senses. Morrisons removed the “use before” dates from most store-brand dairy products in January and replaced them with a “best before” label. Co-op, another grocery chain, did the same with its brand name yogurt.

It’s a change some shoppers support. Ellie Spanswick, a social media marketer in Falmouth, England, buys produce, eggs and other groceries at farm stalls and local stores when she can. She said the food had no labels, but it was easy to see that it was fresh.

“The last thing we need to do is waste more food and money because it has a label telling us it’s been too long to eat,” Spanswick said.

But not everyone agrees. Anna Wittrov of London, who runs a home renovation project with her husband, worries that without labels, employees might not know which items to remove from the shelves. She recently bought a pineapple and didn’t realize until after she cut it that it was moldy in the middle.

“We’ve had dates on these packages for the past 20 years or so. Why fix them when they’re not broken?” Wittrov said.

Some US store chains — including Walmart — have shifted their store brands to the standard “best if used by” and “use by” labels. The Consumer Brands Association, which represents major food companies such as General Mills and Dole, also encourages members to use the labels.

“Standardization makes it simpler for our companies to manufacture products and keep prices low,” said Katie Dennis, the union’s vice president of communications.

In the absence of federal policy, states have stepped in with their own laws, frustrating food companies and grocery stores. Florida and Nevada, for example, require “sell by” dates on shellfish and dairy, and Arizona requires “best by” or “use by” dates over eggs, according to Emily Broad-Lieb, director of food law and policy at Harvard Law School.

The confusion has led some companies, such as Unilever, to support current legislation in Congress that would standardize American history labels and ensure that food could be donated to rescue organizations even after the quality date. Lieb said at least 20 states currently prohibit the sale or donation of food after the date listed on the label due to liability concerns.

Clear label rules and donations can help nonprofits like Food Shift, which train chefs to use salvaged food. Apple said it even makes dog treats from ripe bananas, recovered chicken fat and spent grains from the brewery.

“We definitely need to focus more on doing these little things like addressing expiration date labels, because even though they’re a very small part of the whole food waste problem, they can be very impactful,” Apple said.

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Associated Press writers Kelvin Chan and Courtney Bonnell in London and Associated Press video journalist Terry Chia in Alameda, California, contributed to this report.