A new California law went into effect Wednesday that bans \u201csell by\u201d food labels as part of a statewide effort to cut down on food waste.<\/p>\n
Food manufacturers now must use one or both of two labels that indicate peak quality and product safety, indicated by \u201cbest if used by\u201d and \u201cuse by,\u201d respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing clear, consistent date labels will help reduce confusion about when food is safe to eat, cut down on unnecessary food waste, and make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions,\u201d California state Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D), author of the new law, wrote in a Monday social platform X post<\/a>.<\/p>\n Irwin added that the law will result in a \u201csimple change with meaningful benefits for families, businesses, and the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n Emily Broad Leib, director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, told the Los Angeles Times<\/a> that food labels became the common method for classifying a product\u2019s freshness to consumers decades ago, but there is still no national standard for the language used for these labels.<\/p>\n \u201cOver time, a large majority of consumers interpreted those as safety dates, and so we have this real mismatch,\u201d Broad Leib added.<\/p>\n The information on these labels is unregulated and typically does not relate to food safety.<\/p>\n \u201cConsumers get confused and they just default to assuming that whatever date is on the package means \u2018don\u2019t eat it and throw it away,’\u201d said Kumar Chandran, policy director at ReFED, a nonprofit focused on cutting down on food waste.<\/p>\n