Why America’s food labels are approaching their best before date
New legislation aims to end uncertainty over whether food is safe to eat, and reduce waste
By E.W.
SELL by; use by; best by; expires on. American food products display a range of authoritative-sounding labels that are often inconsistently applied and confusing. Many people think expiration labels are federally regulated. In fact, they are decided upon at the state level or by manufacturers themselves—and they often cause consumers to throw away perfectly good food.
A new law could change that.The Food Labelling Act, which was introduced on May 18th, would ensure that “Best if used by” meant that food was still safe, if not at its most fresh, while “Expires on” (used on packets of raw meat and fish, say) would indicate just that. The bill's proponents say that a national system of labelling, requiring manufacturers to use the same terms consistently, would reduce confusion and waste.
The act would also prohibit states from preventing shops or retailers from donating products which appear to be past their expiration date but are perfectly safe to charities and homeless shelters across America. Currently, 20 states restrict the donation of post-date food.
The National Resources Defence Council says that 40% of food produced in America never gets eaten. At the same time, 48 million Americans don’t get enough to eat. In low-income countries, waste can generally be blamed on poor infrastructure and inefficient supply chains. In high-income countries, however, food is more often binned at the supermarket and at home. A joint study by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, the National Consumers League, and the Johns Hopkins Centre for a Livable Future found that 84% of Americans discard safe, edible food.
The recent rise of a food waste movement has spurred industry and government leaders into action. The movement is built on the coalition of a broad range of organisations working on issues from poverty to consumer protection and climate change. Food waste activism is especially strong in Europe. France has passed legislation requiring supermarkets to donate all unsold but edible food to charities. In February, Denmark opened the world’s first food waste supermarket, which collects “expired” food from other stores and sells it at up to half the price.
In recent years, the movement has begun to take off in America, too. Earlier this month, 40 organisations joined up to host “Feeding the 5,000” events in New York City and Washington, DC: vast, free banquets of fresh, high-quality food that would have otherwise been wasted.
The Food Date Labelling Act follows a raft of state and federal laws also aimed at reducing food waste by expanding tax deductions for farmers, retailers, and restaurants that donate food, encouraging investment in storage and distribution programmes, and providing infrastructure to support composting and other conservation practices.
Tristram Stuart, the founder of Feedback, a non-profit organisation, points out that the food industry doesn’t need to wait for legislation, however, to clean up its act. Manufacturers and retailers could coordinate and decide to standardise expiration labels on their own, thus smoothing the path for future legislation and preempting potential opposition to it.
