Every day the average American throws out nearly a pound of food, according to a study from the Department of Agriculture.
There are plenty of reasons why good, usable food is tossed: picky kids, overstocked pantries, or even leftovers that sit in refrigerators too long.
But according to the authors of a new study looking at household food waste, " ’best by,’ ’use by,’ and ambiguous date labeling significantly decrease the odds that food items are fully utilized." Senior author of the study, Brian Roe, Ph.D., a professor of agricultural, environmental, and development economics at Ohio State University, says that to decrease food waste while maintaining safety, developing a uniform system of labeling is critical. "Nonetheless," he adds, "the consumer education challenge remains large because you are requiring consumers to undertake radically different responses (assess whether the quality is suitable vs. discard/compost if the item poses safety risks) based upon a single small phrase."
Ninety percent of Americans misinterpret the dates on labels, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and they throw out food that could still be consumed or frozen for later use. If expiration dates aren’t a reliable gauge of food spoilage, how do you know what to keep and what to toss?
What Date Labels Actually Mean
With the exception of baby formula, there are no federal regulations on date labeling. Often the “best if used by,” “sell by,” and “use by” designations are just a manufacturer's best guess about how long their food will taste its freshest. Supermarkets may also use the dates as a guide when stocking shelves. But the dates have little to do with how safe the food is.
- Best If Used By/Before: This guarantees when a product is of the best quality or flavor. For instance, a jar of salsa may not taste as fresh or crackers may be soft instead of crisp after this date. It’s not about safety.
- Sell By: This is the date set by manufacturers to tell retailers when to remove a product from shelves. The goal is to ensure that consumers have products at their best quality, which can be several days to several weeks, depending on the item. For instance, milk, assuming proper refrigeration, should last five to seven days past its sell-by date before turning sour.
- Use By: This is the last date that guarantees the best quality of a product. This is also not a safety date except when used on infant formula.
CR shows you how to extend food expiration dates.
More on Food Labels
What Do You Really Get When You Buy Organic?
What Deli Meat Labels Really Mean
Decoding Bread Labels
How to Extend Food Expiration Dates
According to a report from the NRDC and Harvard University, manufacturers typically use methods such as lab tests and taste-testing to set these label dates. But consumers have no way of knowing the background. In many cases, dates are conservative, so if you eat food past that date, you may not notice any difference in quality, especially if the date has recently passed.
In an attempt to standardize labeling and make it clearer, the Food Date Labeling Act was introduced in both houses of Congress in May 2016. But the bill is still in committee in both houses.
Even without federal regulation, some standardization of these terms may be coming. Earlier this year the Food and Drug Administration said it supported a food industry movement to regularize the labels and make them easier for consumers to understand.
The Grocery Manufacturers Association and the Food Marketing Institute have been working with 25 manufacturers and retailers to standardize the use of only two terms: "best if used by" to indicate best quality/taste dates, and for perishable foods, "use by" to give the date after which the food should be discarded. The goal is for all consumer packaged goods to have these labels by January 2020. "It is encouraging that they have developed a plan based on the best available information and have actively asked their members to adopt that plan," says Roe. "Of course, one always hopes that more members will embrace the guidance and update labels as quickly as is reasonable."
As a general rule of thumb, most canned foods (for example, canned tuna, soups, and vegetables) can be stored for two to five years, and high-acid foods (canned juices, tomatoes, pickles) can be stored for a year up to 18 months, according to the USDA. Watch out for dents and bulges in cans, though. That might be a sign it’s time to toss those products.
If you’re still not sure whether a product or item is worth saving past its date label, a free app the USDA created, FoodKeeper, will help you determine how soon specific items—everything from oats to coconut milk to maple syrup—should be consumed if it’s stored in the pantry, or how long it will last in your refrigerator once it’s opened.
Warning Signs
Nonperishable items like grains and dried and canned goods can still be used well past their label dates, but with meat, dairy, and eggs, it's a different story. Although there are still no federally regulated expiration dates on those items, they obviously have shorter shelf lives. According to Sana Mujahid, Ph.D., manager of food-safety research at Consumer Reports, the best way to know whether a perishable food has spoiled is simply to “trust your taste buds and sense of smell.”
Foods past their prime often develop mold, bacteria, and yeast, causing them to give warning signs to your senses. Spoiled food will usually look different in texture and color, smell unpleasant, and taste bad before it becomes unsafe to eat.
Foodborne illness comes from contamination, not from the natural process of decay. That said, bacteria like listeria thrive in warmer temperatures, so it’s important to always keep your perishables refrigerated at the proper temperature. (The FDA says your fridge should be set no higher than 40° F. Consumer Reports' experts suggest setting it to 37° F.)
Also, a good rule of thumb is to throw out a perishable item after 2 hours at room temperature or half that time in high heat. Also keep all food preparation surfaces clean, and avoid cross-contamination of raw meat and other grocery items.
“The most important thing that consumers should do is follow good food-handling and storage practices, which can prevent unnecessary spoilage and ensure food safety,” says Mujahid.
How to Avoid Waste
- Freeze it. “Freezing is an excellent way to halt the aging process and extend the life of foods that might otherwise go bad or get thrown away,” says Tyler Lark, Ph.D., a food-waste researcher at Gibbs Land Use and Environment Lab. Frozen foods won’t go bad because bacteria and other pathogens can’t grow in frozen temperatures. This even applies to milk, bread, cheese, and raw eggs (crack and lightly beat them first).
- Save that fruit. According to the NRDC, fruit is one of the most common items to be tossed prematurely. Fruits like bruised apples, overripe bananas, and citrus like oranges and clementines that have dried up can be used in various recipes. Check out the “Amazing Waste Cookbook,” (PDF) created by the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
- Extend the life of produce. There are tricks for extending the shelf life of veggies, like wrapping broccoli in a damp paper towel, keeping celery in tinfoil instead of plastic, and putting asparagus in a glass with a half-inch of water.
- Organize your fridge. Studies have shown that out-of-sight foods are often forgotten, so keep the most perishable items up front on the highest shelves. Certain foods last longest stored in the appropriate parts of your fridge, too. And if you really want to get proactive, keep a list of the items closest to expiration. (Newer “smart fridges” can make this process even easier.)
- Compost. Composting way-past-its-prime produce or packaged foods such as bread is a great way to recycle food without contributing to more waste.
