The USDA Wants to Cut Grocery Bills by $120 Every Single Month
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) are unveiling the complexity of food date labeling, particularly as it relates to the use of the terms “sell by,” “use by,” and “best by.”
On December 3, the USDA and FDA — who together have a responsibility for ensuring that food labels on products over which they each have jurisdiction are not misleading — announced a joint request for information (RFI) about food date labeling. The RFI will unearth industry practices and preferences for food date labeling, research shopper perceptions of it, and explore its impact on food waste and grocery costs.
The USDA statement shared that the RFI will ask questions about what dictates a food product’s expiration date. The announcement explains that this form will also prompt shoppers to detail how they interact with food date labels, including “whether consumers are confused by this information.” This questionnaire will also seek information about the relationship between food date labels, household expenses, and food waste.
This action from the USDA and FDA comes from the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics, a plan released by the Biden-Harris administration to reduce food loss and waste by 50 percent by 2030. This research uncovered that in the U.S., an average family of four spends at least $1500 each year on food that ends up spoiling, and the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that, in 2019, food retail, food service, and families wasted 66 million tons of food.
The Kitchn spoke with Jeffrey Costantino, the communications director of ReFED, an organization working across the food system to cut food loss and waste, to understand why it’s so important for consumers to participate in this comment period.
“Under federal law, date labels are almost entirely unregulated,” Costantino says. “Unfortunately, current date labeling practices on food packaging are inconsistent and can cause confusion between ‘sell-by,’ ‘best-by,’ ‘use-by,’ and ‘best before’ dates, leading many consumers to prematurely discard food that is still safe and edible.”
Costantino points out that ReFED champions making food label dates much simpler. The organization proposes that the nation move towards two phrases, “best if used by,” to indicate what shoppers can expect in the taste or look of a food item over time, and “use by,” to make it clear to consumers if there are any safety risks. “According to our data, standardizing date labels would result in about 751,000 tons of food not being wasted each year, with a net financial benefit of $3.8 billion,” he says. “Standardized date labeling could avoid 3.96 million metric tons of greenhouse gases, and save about 245 billion gallons of water.”
California recently took action to standardize food date labels. This year, the state passed legislation stating that starting July 1, 2026, manufacturers will need to use “best if used by” to indicate quality and require the label “use by” to demonstrate product safety. “By requiring manufacturers to use the same phrases for date labels across products, ReFED estimates that in California alone, this law will annually save 70,000 tons of food from going to waste, saving consumers $300 million, says Costantino. “With thorough education about what the new labels mean, it could be three times that.”
If you want to comment on the USDA and FDA’s RFI, you have until January 31, 2024, to respond to one or more of their 13 questions posted. For more information on how to submit your feedback, visit this guide.
Further Reading
Do Water Filters Really Work — And Which Ones Are the Best?
Tuscan Chicken Is the "Most Delicious" Dinner of All Time, Says Everyone Who's Tried It
Ball Just Dropped the Most Beautiful Mason Jars for Its 140th Anniversary ("So Iconic!")
