Date Labels on Food Are Unrelated to Food Safety and Lead to Massive Waste Peter Lehner - Natural Resources Defense Council
go to original September 23, 2013

Western countries throw out nearly half of their food, not because it's inedible - but because it doesn't look appealing. Tristram Stuart delves into the shocking data of wasted food, calling for a more responsible use of global resources. (TEDtalksDirector)

Forty percent of the food we produce in this country never gets eaten. That’s nearly half our food, wasted - not just on our plates, but in our refrigerators and pantries, in our grocery stores and on our farms. Much of it perfectly good, edible food - worth $165 billion annually - and it gets tossed in the trash instead feeding someone who’s hungry.

Dana Gunders has been exploring how, where, and why food gets wasted in America, from farm to store to table. One of the more surprising reasons, as she explains in a report released by NRDC and Harvard Law School, is because of the inconsistent and incoherent way in which food is date labeled. Those “best by,” “sell by,” and “use by” dates that you see on food have nothing to do with food safety. They’re set by manufacturers, without federal oversight, and most often relate to what manufacturers feel is “peak” quality.

The date label on food does not tell you if your food is safe to eat.

Read the rest at SwitchBoard

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