Consumer confusion over date labels is a significant factor contributing to food waste, areport by the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and others concludes.
Thirty-seven percent of 1,029 consumers in a survey by the group said they always or usually discard food close to or past the date on the label, and 84 percent do so at least occasionally, according to the findings. The research was presented at the Food Waste Summit in Washington hosted by Harvard, the National Consumers League (NCL) and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, all sponsors of the survey.
About 40 percent of the food produced in the United States goes uneaten, resulting in 62.5 million tons of wasted food each year, the groups said. Consumers interpret date labels to mean that the food is no longer safe to eat.
“Many people throw away food once the date passes because they think the date is an indicator of safety, but in fact for most foods the date is a manufacturer’s best guess as to how long the product will be at its peak quality,” they said.
Thirty-six percent of those surveyed thought date labels were federally regulated, but infant formula is the only product whose date labels are regulated.