Healthy Magazine Holidays Issue 2018

Expiration Date
CONFUSION
How many times have you looked at
the expiration date on a gallon of
milk, realized it’s a few days past
the date, given it a good sniff and then
thrown it out because you just can’t
be sure? We’ve all been there and for
good reason. No one wants to get food
poisoning from his or her morning bowl
of corn flakes even though the milk
didn’t smell that bad. As it turns out,
we might all be guilty of wasting huge
amounts of food because of a simple
misunderstanding—“use by” and “sell
by” dates don’t necessarily mean the
food is bad. They are meant to simply
indicate when the food is at its peak
freshness.
Some of this confusion stems
from a lack of regulation for food
manufacturers. In fact, there is no
national regulation on “use by” or “sell
by” dates because it was never an issue
of public health. Food dating emerged in
the 1970’s because consumers wanted
to know more about their food, as a
larger portion of purchased foods were
not being produced locally anymore.
The dates were printed on foods solely
as an indication of freshness and not an
indication that foods would be inedible
or dangerous after the “use by” date.
Herein lies the confusion. Most of us are
under the impression that “use by” and
“sell by” dates indicate whether foods
are safe to consume or not. The reality
is that these dates were never linked to
an increased risk of food poisoning or
foodborne illness.
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THE AMOUNT
OF FOOD THROWN
AWAY EACH YEAR
REPRESENTS 40
PERCENT OF THE U.S.
FOOD SUPPLY
90% of American waste billions of pounds of
food because of confusing expiration date
system, a new report says.
Moreover, this confusion leads
many of us to throw away foods
that are still safe to eat. According
to a report from the National
Resources Defense Council and
the Harvard Food Law and Policy
Council, U.S. consumers and
businesses are needlessly trashing
billions of pounds of food every
year as a result of the confusion
surrounding expiry dates. The
report cited a survey conducted by
The Food Marketing Institute that
stated, “nine out of ten Americans
throw out food because of this
misunderstanding. For an average
family of four, this could mean
hundreds of dollars’ worth of edible
and safe food is thrown away every
year.” All told, the amount of food
thrown away each year represents
40 percent of the U.S. food supply.
The NRDC’s report calls for a
standardization in labeling practices
among food manufacturers in
order to demystify the meaning of
confusing tags that, according to
the report, lead to billions of pounds
of wasted food every year. It also
provides consumer advice regarding
specific items such as eggs and
milk, and even a helpful chart on
how to make better use of the space
in your refrigerator to keep foods
fresh, longer.
nrdc.org/food/expiration-dates.asp
nrdc.org/food/files/dating-game-infographic.pdf
EXPIRED?nutrition
THE HEALTHY HOLIDAY ISSUE 2018 73