Food manufacturers provide product date labeling to help retailers and consumers identify when food is of the best quality. In the United States, product date labeling is not required by federal law, except for baby formula, and it is actually not an indicator of the product’s safety.
Since there is no universal consensus about language used in food date labels, there are a wide variety of them used to describe quality, such as “Freshest by,” “Enjoy by,” “Sell by,” or “Use by." This diversity has made it difficult to understand what they mean, and regulators use them to determine whether food should be consumed, sold, donated, or discarded. However, going past the date does not immediately make the product unsafe. Food safety regulations and date labeling both work to inform consumers, but they are not one and the same.
Currently, food date label regulations operate at the state level, and in the absence of federal policy and standardization, there is huge variation between regulations among the states that have enacted their own laws. This confusing system has made it hard for people to determine whether they should throw away their groceries, discarding completely safe items in the process and contributing to the millions of pounds of food that go unsold, uneaten, and wasted each year as a result.
In California, where it has been estimated that 6 million tons of food are thrown away each year, which is about 18% of their overall waste stream, a new law intends to clarify these product dating labels. The goal is to avoid and reduce food waste by forbidding manufacturers from adding "sell-by" dates on their packages, as they were never really meant for consumers, but to communicate to stores when to pull something off the shelf. This way, wholesome food is not removed weeks ahead of time from the shelves; it can be eaten at the best time or donated without issues to food rescue groups.
The new law also requires companies to use the same terms across brands, such as “Use By” to indicate when a product should be thrown away and “Best If Used By” to establish that the food will be at the peak of freshness and quality until that date, yet it is still safe to eat it for a while afterwards.
Except for baby formula, many products are still safe and wholesome to eat even if the date label passes, as long as they are handled properly and unless spoilage is evident. Consumers should evaluate the quality of the food product prior to its consumption. Signs of naturally occurring spoilage include, but are not limited to, an off-odor, changes in the product’s flavor and texture, and mold formation. If a food has developed any of these characteristics, it should not be eaten.
If the food shows no signs of spoilage or packaging damage, has been stored at the right temperature, and has been transported under sanitary conditions, it can still be donated and rescued after the dates on the labels have passed. This food will feed families and communities just as well as food found on the supermarket shelf. Nonprofit organizations find it difficult for clients to take their food if it is past its "best by” date, even if it is completely safe for consumption, because it automatically makes them think it is bad or spoiled. This causes nonprofits to exclusively accept food donations labeled with a future date, forcing many food donors (businesses, restaurants, etc.) to throw the food away. Standardized food date labeling can help prevent this and contribute to increasing the amount of food nonprofits can collect and that their clients will also want to take home.
You can download and reference the following guide to make sure you are maximizing the amount of surplus food available for food rescues and donations: Can this Food Still Be Donated? - Guide