{"id":2089556,"date":"2024-12-11T18:14:21","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T00:14:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/?p=2089556"},"modified":"2024-12-22T20:56:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T02:56:02","slug":"fda-sell-by-dates-on-food-labels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/fda-sell-by-dates-on-food-labels\/","title":{"rendered":"The FDA Might Ban &#8216;Sell By&#8217; Dates on Food Labels"},"content":{"rendered":"Given that it's the most populous state in the U.S., California has a lot of influence in politics, culture and innovation\u2014right down to the food we eat. When the Golden State enacts some sort of regulation on the food industry, it's often easier for manufacturers to simply roll out the changes nationwide to comply with the country's largest market.\r\n\r\nThe state of California recently passed a bill, scheduled to take effect in 2026, that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/california-food-labels-change\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bans ambiguous expiration labels<\/a> on food packaging. From then on, \"sell by\" and \"best before\" will not be allowed to appear on the label.\r\n\r\nWe now see that happening at the federal level, as the FDA and USDA mull a change to expiration dates on food packaging.\r\n<h2>Why are expiration dates so confusing?<\/h2>\r\nThere are many phrasings that get stamped on various food packages: \"best by,\" \"best if used by,\" \"best before,\" \"sell by,\" \"use by\" and so on. None of these mean the exact same thing\u2014and none of them are regulated at the federal level. This understandably leads to confusion among consumers, who throw out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/its-safe-to-eat-food-past-its-expiration-date\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">food that's still safe to eat past its sell-by date<\/a>. Food waste has increasingly become an issue, not to mention all the money wasted on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usda.gov\/foodlossandwaste\/consumers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">food that goes uneaten<\/a>.\r\n\r\nIn California, the label \"Best if Used By\" will be required to indicate that the product will lose peak quality after the given date (but will likely still be safe\/good to eat), and \"Use By\" will be the only label related to product safety after the given date. The term \"Use By\" will be the only label that amounts to an \"expiration date\" in the strictest sense.\r\n\r\nCalifornia state representative Jacqui Irwin stated that this bill will be \"a monumental step to keep money in the pockets of consumers while helping the environment and the planet.\" Now, the federal government is on board, too.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.foodbusinessnews.net\/articles\/27329-food-date-labels-get-another-look-from-fda-usda\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Food Business News reports<\/a> that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the U.S. Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/public-inspection.federalregister.gov\/2024-27810.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">joint request for public feedback<\/a> regarding food labeling. These agencies know that the current, relatively unregulated labeling system is confusing, but in order to potentially improve the situation, they have to know what's tripping us up the most.\r\n\r\nRight now, the recommendation from both FSIS and the FDA is for food manufacturers to voluntarily apply the \"Best if Used By\" label, \"which notes the date after which quality may decline but the product may still be consumed.\"\r\n\r\nA <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.jhu.edu\/2019\/survey-misunderstanding-food-date-labels-linked-with-higher-food-discards\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2019 study<\/a> from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that \"Best if Used By\" is understood by most consumers to convey the <em>quality<\/em> of an item, and \"Use By\" is understood by a good proportion of consumers to convey the <em>safety<\/em> of an item. However, \"many had different interpretations.\" Whatever regulations are adopted, the public would need to be educated on the meaning of each label.\r\n\r\nComments can be submitted to the FSIS and the FDA at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.regulations.gov\/document\/FDA-2024-Z-0025-0002\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this portal<\/a> from now until February 3, 2025.\r\n<h2>How this change to food labels could help us<\/h2>\r\nIn June, the Biden-Harris administration released the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/circulareconomy\/national-strategy-reducing-food-loss-and-waste-and-recycling-organics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics<\/a>, aiming for a 50% reduction in food waste and food loss by 2030. Clarifying our food labels won't get us all the way to that goal, but it would have a significant impact. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the retail, food service and residential sectors wasted 66 million tons of food in 2019, with an additional 40 million tons of waste generated at the manufacturing level. Squeezing even a few extra days out of our grocery haul could keep food out of landfills\u2014and keep us from wasting a chunk of our personal budgets.\r\n\r\n[cf]skyword_tracking_tag[\/cf]","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Food labels lack regulation, but the government might soon require them to be less confusing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7801,"featured_media":2089575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[303719,303745],"categories-v2":[308324,308369],"coauthors":[343846],"acf":{"long_pin_file":false,"ncv_override_generic_settings_option":false,"ncv_autoplay_option":"","ncv_stickyplay_option":"","ncv_ads_option":"","ncv_mute_option":"","ncv_comscore_option":"","ncv_autoplay_mobile_option":"","ncv_viewable_threshold_option":"","ncv_sticky_offset_option":"","ncv_autopause_option":"","ncv_sticky_offset_mobile_option":"","ncv_autopause_mobile_option":"","ncv_sticky_mobile_option":"","ncv_remove_player_option":false,"ncv_moat_option":""},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v23.3 (Yoast SEO v23.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The FDA Might Ban &#039;Sell By&#039; Dates on Food Labels<\/title>\n\n\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/fda-sell-by-dates-on-food-labels\/\" \/>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The FDA Might Ban 'Sell By' Dates on Food Labels","description":"Expiration dates on food packaging can be confusing, but they might change under potential new government regulations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/fda-sell-by-dates-on-food-labels\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The FDA Might Ban 'Sell By' Dates on Food Labels","og_description":"Expiration dates on food packaging can be confusing, but they might change under potential new government regulations.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/fda-sell-by-dates-on-food-labels\/","og_site_name":"Taste Recipes","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/tasteofhome","article_published_time":"2024-12-12T00:14:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-12-23T02:56:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2121,"height":1414,"url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2153548833.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Marnie Shure","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2153548833.jpg","twitter_creator":"@tasteofhome","twitter_site":"@tasteofhome","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Marnie Shure","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/fda-sell-by-dates-on-food-labels\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/article\/fda-sell-by-dates-on-food-labels\/"},"author":{"name":"skyword system user","@id":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/#\/schema\/person\/7ccbba5e04c121f1dcff19cbc0692222"},"headline":"The FDA Might Ban &#8216;Sell By&#8217; 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For the past six years, she has covered restaurant reviews, recipes, breaking news, fast food taste tests, industry trends, and competitive eating. She most recently helmed The Takeout, a Midwest-based food website, and previously served as managing editor at The Onion. She also contributes to Food &amp; Wine magazine.<\/p>","twitter":"","instagram":"","facebook":"","public_email":"","linkedin":"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/marnie-shure-13001819b","tiktok":"","youtube":"","location":"Chicago, IL","school_and_year":"Knox College","education":"Knox College, bachelor's in creative writing","highlights":"","expertise":"Food News","short_bio":"","user_nicename":"marnie-shure","type":"guest-author","nickname":""}},"images":{"2089575":{"image_url":"https:\/\/www.tasteofhome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/GettyImages-2153548833.jpg","post_data":{"ID":2089575,"post_author":"8116","post_date":"2024-12-11 12:02:30","post_date_gmt":"2024-12-11 18:02:30","post_content":"","post_title":"Best Before Date","post_excerpt":"","post_status":"inherit","comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","post_password":"","post_name":"best-before-date","to_ping":"","pinged":"","post_modified":"2024-12-11 12:07:32","post_modified_gmt":"2024-12-11 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