Food Expiration Dates (2 Viewers)

[Optimus Prime]

California wants to end the household debate over whether the food in the fridge is still good to eat.

The state is the first to ban food labels such as “sell by” or “best before” under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Food labels that say “sell by” or “best before” are misleading because they have no universal meaning under current laws.

Now California wants to crack down on such practices, bidding to help consumers stop playing guessing games with produce and other items in their fridges.

The legislation signed by Newsom over the weekend aims at reducing both food waste and the state's climate-warming emissions.

There are more than 50 different date labels on packaged food sold in stores, but the information is largely unregulated and does not relate to food safety. “Sell by” dates, for example, often act as a guide for stores to pull products from the shelf and not as an indicator of whether the product is still safe to consume.

With no federal regulations dictating what information these labels should include, the stamps have led to consumer confusion — and nearly 20% of the nation's food waste, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

In California, that's about 6 million tons of unexpired food that's tossed in the trash each year………

California to ban ‘sell by’ and ‘best before’ labels

The state wants to end the guessing game over if the food in the fridge is still good

www.independent.co.uk

 

[bigdaddysaints]

My daughter 100% will not eat or drink anything if it is past the date.
I can see how so much perfectly fine food is wasted on a daily basis because of this.
I think instead of best by or sell by, there should be a 'born' on date to let you know when it was packaged.

 

[Merl]

My daughter 100% will not eat or drink anything if it is past the date.
I can see how so much perfectly fine food is wasted on a daily basis because of this.
I think instead of best by or sell by, there should be a 'born' on date to let you know when it was packaged.

Don't think a "born on date" will work since most people don't know how long a product is good for. This will create more waste and more cases of food poisoning overall.

Clear instructions for storage should be on the packaging and "do not use after date" (with proper storage) is what is needed.

 

[bigdaddysaints]

Don't think a "born on date" will work since most people don't know how long a product is good for. This will create more waste and more cases of food poisoning overall.

Clear instructions for storage should be on the packaging and "do not use after date" (with proper storage) is what is needed.

One of the problems with dates is, it is different because of when its opened. If i buy a gallon of milk today and open it, it will go bad before a gallon of milk that was bought today but not opened for a week, same with bread and packaged deli meats. thats the kind of stuff that needs to be educated. put a QR code on each item that takes you to the FDA website for that kind of product that tells you "deli meat is good for 7-10 days after opening" and "xx amount of days since it was purchased" something to that extent, which would be good with born on dates.
people are wierd and creatures of habit tho.
When i go to the Black Friday Store (that mostly sells Amazon Returns, but always has pallets of the 40ct lays variety packs) and get the boxes of chips, the sell by date is either just passed or about to pass. A couple times the date was a couple months past. not once was a bag of them stale.
There is enough science in todays world to be able to have better studies and better understanding on true expiration dates if stored propely.

 

[Merl]

One of the problems with dates is, it is different because of when its opened. If i buy a gallon of milk today and open it, it will go bad before a gallon of milk that was bought today but not opened for a week, same with bread and packaged deli meats. thats the kind of stuff that needs to be educated. put a QR code on each item that takes you to the FDA website for that kind of product that tells you "deli meat is good for 7-10 days after opening" and "xx amount of days since it was purchased" something to that extent, which would be good with born on dates.
people are wierd and creatures of habit tho.
When i go to the Black Friday Store (that mostly sells Amazon Returns, but always has pallets of the 40ct lays variety packs) and get the boxes of chips, the sell by date is either just passed or about to pass. A couple times the date was a couple months past. not once was a bag of them stale.
There is enough science in todays world to be able to have better studies and better understanding on true expiration dates if stored propely.

The storage instructions should include differences based on if it has been opened time based on wether it has been opened

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

One of the problems with dates is, it is different because of when its opened. If i buy a gallon of milk today and open it, it will go bad before a gallon of milk that was bought today but not opened for a week, same with bread and packaged deli meats. thats the kind of stuff that needs to be educated. put a QR code on each item that takes you to the FDA website for that kind of product that tells you "deli meat is good for 7-10 days after opening" and "xx amount of days since it was purchased" something to that extent, which would be good with born on dates.
people are wierd and creatures of habit tho.

it's not a bad idea and probably where we're going

eventually you'd probably have those codes and 'smart' fridges and pantries interacting to let you know when foods getting close to spoiled