Do we need a new system for food dates? Why?

A new federal law for dating foods has been proposed.  I think the general response from the public has been, "It's about time."  But it will take a lot more time to get the new system enacted and then onto food labels.  Introduced in the House of Representatives on May 19, 2016, the Food Date Labeling Act of 2016 is just getting started on the road to becoming U.S. law.  Whether it will ever reach the finish line is impossible to say. No doubt, many changes to the existing draft will be made along the way. 

The act's immediate effect will be to clarify, simplify, and standardize those confusing  dates on food labels. The new system might keep folks living in the same household from arguing about which foods to discard and which to allow more time to escape the garbage. Longer term, one major goal of this act is to cut down on the amount of food waste Americans are guilty of committing.  That would make the government happy, and it might also bring joy to individual consumers if, as a result of discarding less, households spend less of their budgets on food.  So let's find out what the proposed act (bill)  says, what additional advantages it might have, who's behind this noble effort, and other related matters.

The Main Proposals

1) The bill dramatically simplifies labeling. Today we have "sell by," "best by, "best before," and other  possibilities. "Sell by" provides guidance to the seller, but many consumers think it means the food is unsafe after that date.  The "best by" dates  tell consumers that, after the printed date, the quality of the food will begin to deteriorate.  None of these dates tell consumers when the food will be unsafe to eat. 

2) On the other hand, the proposed act has only one required date preceded by  this wording: "expires on."  This date relates to safety. An optional quality date must be  preceded by the words "best if used by." Every state or subdivision of a state is required  to use only these dates and the above wording before the dates. The  Commissioner of Food and Drugs and the Secretary of Agriculture will provide guidance for food labelers on how to determine quality and safety dates.

3) Expired QUALITY dates (such as "best if used by") would not prohibit the sale or donation of the food. In fact, no state or municipality could  pass a law to prohibit these uses of  food past its peak quality.

4) This bill contains an education component on the meaning of the new quality and safety labels. It must begin no later than 1 year after the bill is enacted.

Of course, there's more in the bill than what is listed above. To read the entire draft, go to this link: H.R. 5298 - Food Date Labeling Act of 2016.

Some Important Likely Advantages of Passage

1) Consumers would be less confused about food labels and, as a result, waste less food and spend less money on food.

2) Stores would not be bothered by customer objections if they sold foods dated after the quality dates.  Probably stores would offer these to consumers at a discount.  (Some do this already).  This would provide savings for the stores and their customers as well as reduce food waste.

3)  Food banks would be able to accept donations and distribute food even if the quality dates were beyond the current date.

4) The "Findings" section of the bill says this:  "Confusion over the meaning of date labels is estimated to account for 20 percent of consumer waste of safe, edible food, leading to approximately $29,000,000,000 [$29 billion] of wasted consumer spending each year."

5) The amount of U.S. food waste is significant.  Here's what the website civileats.com says, "America leads the world when it comes to wasting food. An estimated 40 percent of all the food produced here ends up in the trash, compared to 30 percent globally. And that wasted food consumes 25 percent of the fresh water used to grow crops, on 28 percent of the world’s agricultural land, as the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) points out." 

Although it's difficult to believe, according to Emily Broad Lieb, director of the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic also says, "...40 percent of the food we produce gets thrown away."  What does this mean for the average American family? A family of 4 wastes an average of $1,560 of discarded food.

6) The "Report to Congress'" section of the bill says this: "Not later than 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the administering Secretaries, acting jointly, shall report to the appropriate committees of Congress on the progress in the reduction of food waste that can be attributed to the standardization of food date labeling and consumer education required by this Act and the amendments made by this Act." So the U.S. will find out if progress is being made and how much.

Some Comments from Food Scientists on Our Advisory Board

Dr. Catherine Cutter:

“Standardization of food label wording would help.  Keep in mind that companies would still have to demonstrate a rationale for their dates through good record-keeping, microbial analyses, and data collection, which can be time-consuming or cost prohibitive.  When developing these use-by or sell-by dates, processors may have difficulty factoring in issues such as temperature abuse or cross-contamination, which may occur in consumers' homes."

Dr. Karin Allen:

About our current food dating system:

"Food quality dating is commonly referred to as “open-dating”.  State and local governments can create their own open-dating laws, or they can incorporate a standard set of rules available from the National Institute of Standards and Technology.  The NIST rules give a clearer definition of how open dating should be used.  “Sell by” dates are for perishable food (60 days or less shelf life) and are intended to give the consumer a week or so to consume the food (beyond the sell by date).  “Best if used by” or “best by” are for semi-perishable (60 days – 6 months) or long shelf-life foods (longer than 6 months), and are a general indication of how long the food will be palatable if properly stored before using.

"All quality dating must be supported by the characteristics of the food, how it’s processed, and how it’s packaged.  These factors together influence how quickly (or if at all) spoilage microbes will grow, how quickly the food will deteriorate due to chemical reactions, etc.  Open-dating is a general indication of quality and has nothing to do with safety.

"It’s important to realize that the NIST rules are not laws – they’re a set of guidelines that states are urged to adopt in their entirety for uniformity (in the absence of federal regulations). Even if individual states have no rules, the grocery stores within those states can require that certain foods be open-dated (unless the state has a law specifically prohibiting their use).  This results in a patchwork of dating systems and dating on different types of food in different places, which only contributes to the confusion!  Having some uniformity in how food dates are used would be beneficial.

Why the bill might be problematic:

"My main concern with the bill as written is the requirement for an “expiration date” that indicates how long a food is safe.  Will this lead to complacency on the part of the consumer? (Oh, it’s still safe even though it’s been recalled because it’s not expired.")  Will it lead to additional confusion?  It is almost impossible to give a “safety” shelf life to a food.  For example, foods such as dried beans, canned goods, and frozen products that are properly processed and stored have an essentially infinite shelf life (from a food safety standpoint).  But if any of these are mishandled (dented can, thawed veggies, or damp beans), the expiration date becomes meaningless. Other foods, such as raw meats and vegetables, have a much higher chance of carrying disease-causing bacteria.  If there’s a pathogen there, its food safety shelf life is 0 days.  This is why we have strict standards for food safety through the USDA and FDA, and why foods are sometimes recalled." 

A Brief History of Food Dates

Quality food dating has been around since the 1970s, so Americans are used to having dated food  and have come to depend upon these dates for guidance.  But, after all these years, many Americans still  don't know what they mean. Although "use by" has never meant to be interpreted as a safety date, about 1/3 of Americans always throw out food past the "use-by" date on a product, and 85% of consumers do this occasionally, says civileats.com.

On May 20, the Food Date Labeling Act of 2016 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), and the identical bill was introduced in the Senate by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn).  The bill was promptly sent to relevant House committees.

If the bill passes both Houses of Congress and is signed by the president, companies will have 2 years to comply with the new law.  Meanwhile, keep in mind  these facts about the current dates you rely on:

Ÿ These refer to quality, not safety.

Ÿ They refer to the UNOPENED package.

Ÿ The dates  to be conservative.

For Further Information

When in doubt about what to throw out, check the information about a particular item or category of food  on this site. Also, consult the following Shelf Life Advice articles for general information  and opinions on the topic.

http://shelflifeadvice.com/faq/what-are-expiration-dates

http://shelflifeadvice.com/content/use-dates-under-attack-can-they-be-defended-or-improved 

http://shelflifeadvice.com/content/do-food-product-dates-make-consumers-safer-or-just-poorer 

Source(s):

www.congress.gov  "H.R. - Food Date Labeling Act of 2016"

https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5298''

civileats.com "To Eat or Not to Eat? The Food Date Labeling Act Could Help You Decide"

http://civileats.com/2016/05/19/to-eat-or-not-to-eat-the-food-date-labeling-act-could-help-you-decide/

The Washington Post  "The simple labeling update that could present millions of tons of  food from going in  the trash"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/food/wp/2016/05/19/the-simple-labeling-update-that-could-prevent-millions-of-tons-of-food-from-going-in-the-trash/

Catherine Nettles Cutter, Ph.D., Pennsylvania State University, Department of Food Science

Karin E. Allen, Ph.D., Utah State University, Dept. of Nutrition, Dietetics, and Food Sciences