Lots of good food gets tossed in the trash because many Americans aren’t really sure what all those dates stamped on the packages actually mean.
In fact, the US Department of Agriculture reveals 31% goes to waste.
Publishing new survey results in the journal Waste Management, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future found that 37% of participants will dump an item as soon as it reaches the printed date.
But terms like “best by, “use by,” and “sell by” don’t mean the food becomes dangerous for consumption. They’re not even federally mandated.
Until a standard is created, it’s still best to do a sniff test or visual inspection, says Mental Floss.
From Mental Floss:
So what’s the best approach to interpreting food labels? For dry or non-perishable goods, dates are often a marker of quality, and you’re not likely to do yourself any harm by keeping the food around longer. Perishable goods should be discarded when their “use by” dates have arrived. But no matter what the package says, if doesn’t smell or look quite right, label it trash and go shopping.
