California Calls on Congress to Fix Common Food Waste Problem

California’s legislature has passed a resolution calling on the federal government to address a systemic cause of food waste: confusion over food date labels.  

Approximately 20 percent of the food waste occurring in our homes is attributed to confusion over “expiration dates.” More than 80 percent of Americans report tossing food simply because it is past date. A recent study also found that people who often throw away food because of the date label are wasting twice as much food at home as people who rarely do so. Standardizing date labels could have a net financial benefit of nearly $4 billion, most of which would go into the pockets of American households.  

Food date labels are not federally regulated, except for those on infant formula to ensure adequate nutritional quality; instead, there is a patchwork of state laws requiring different phrases on different products, and some states have no date label requirements at all. California passed a voluntary law in 2017 to move the industry toward standardized date label phrases, but despite the industry’s promise of compliance, there are still a plethora of phrases on the food on our shelves. This year, California Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin is authoring a bill (AB 660) aiming to fix the issue for food sold within the state. If AB 660 passes, it would standardize consumer-facing date labels down to one quality date phrase (BEST If Used by) to indicate freshness or a discard phrase (USE by) to indicate when food should be consumed before due to food safety risk with the passage of time; this bill aims to pave the way for the eventual federal law by codifying in a large market space the date label phrases supported by research and much of the food industry.  California has made significant progress on the dual crises of climate change and food security—both of which are linked to food waste—but these issues extend beyond state borders and require the entire nation to act.  

The California Legislature has urged the President and Congress to enact the Food Date Labeling Act of 2023, a bicameral federal bill designed to end consumer confusion around food date labeling across the country. The House of Representatives version of the bill is bipartisan and has support from 37 members including 5 California representatives who have formally indicated their support by co-sponsoring the bill.  This bill has numerous environmental, health, and social benefits and is supported by a significant portion of the business community—it is a commonsense solution to an entrenched kitchen table issue.  

Right now, there’s no way of knowing which dates on our food are actually safety dates and which dates indicate peak quality. Instead, consumers are left to guess at what information is intended by the date on the package. Incomprehensible food date labels are a leading cause of food waste in our country. Consumers need consistent date labels so that people stop tossing good food prematurely and so that there is more clarity on which foods are really a health concern. 

Standardizing food date labels is a straightforward way to help consumers understand when food is still good to eat and will help to keep good food out of the trash when it should have ended up on the table instead.