![\"California](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/9qlc5v83slrpf6ap.jpg\")
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California’s new ban on confusing food date labels<\/a> could reshape how packaged groceries are labeled across the country, as other states weigh similar rules and food manufacturers face pressure to adopt a single national standard.<\/p>\n California bans ‘sell-by’ labels\u00a0 <\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n California <\/a>will fundamentally change how grocery items are marked under a new consumer<\/a> protection law aimed at drastically cutting down statewide food waste.\u00a0<\/p>\n RELATED: California bans ‘sell-by’ labels to fight food waste with mandatory new grocery rules<\/a><\/p>\n Assembly Bill 660 <\/a>is an enacted consumer protection law designed to stop billions of pounds of unspoiled food from unnecessarily entering California landfills.\u00a0<\/p>\n Under the legislation, confusing and varied grocery terms are prohibited on consumer-facing packaging.<\/p>\n Instead, the state mandates a streamlined, uniform terminology system that separates food freshness from health <\/a>risks.\u00a0<\/p>\n Manufacturers are required to use the phrase “BEST if Used by” to indicate peak product quality. Conversely, the phrase “USE by” must be reserved strictly for public food safety warnings.<\/p>\n The new guidelines will be fully implemented by July 1.<\/p>\n Trays of beef are for sale in the meat section of a supermarket in Arlington, Virginia. (Photo by SAUL LOEB \/ AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB\/AFP via Getty Images) <\/p>\n Other states may follow suit <\/p>\n Big picture view:<\/p>\n California became the first state in the U.S. to standardize food labels when it approved the law in 2024 that seeks to reduce food waste and the state\u2019s climate-warming emissions. New York state lawmakers recently approved a similar law that is awaiting Gov. Kathy Hochul\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n Legislation addressing food labeling also has been proposed in Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey and South Carolina, though it has not passed in those states.<\/p>\n There are more than 50 different date labels on packaged food sold in stores, according to a 2022 report<\/a> on food waste published by the University of Maryland. The information in the labels is largely unregulated and often does not relate to food safety.<\/p>\n Currently, the only product that is regulated federally with date labels is infant formula.<\/p>\n With no federal regulations dictating what information labels should include, the stamps have led to consumer confusion \u2014 and nearly 20% of the nation\u2019s food waste, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In California, that\u2019s about 6 million tons of unexpired food that\u2019s tossed in the trash each year.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n Nick Lapis, director of advocacy at Californians Against Waste, which co-sponsored the bill, said food labels are the leading cause of household food waste. The “sell by” date labels have also been a problem for food banks in California because people consider those dates as meaning the food has expired, he said.<\/p>\n “We don\u2019t need to build some kind of huge infrastructure and invest tons of money to solve this. We just need companies to use the same words across brands,” he said.<\/p>\n Nate Rose, a spokesperson for the California Grocers Association, said some grocers have had to overhaul their labeling systems, but as a whole, the association has been supportive of the change.<\/p>\n The new labels will result in “a win-win where we can reduce food waste and consumers will find these decisions a little bit simpler,” he said, adding that shoppers will still find old labels in stores for months to come as grocers sell through the products that already have them.<\/p>\n The Source: The Associated Press and FOX 11 Los Angeles contributed to this report. This story was reported from Los Angeles.\u00a0<\/p>\n Food and Drink<\/a>Consumer<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California’s new ban on confusing food date labels could reshape how packaged groceries are labeled across the country,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383703,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,7948,1339,971,100],"class_list":["post-383702","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-consumer","tag-food-drink","tag-lifestyle","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383702","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383702"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383702\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383702"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383702"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383702"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/gettyimages-1241218891.jpg\")
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