Are confusing "Best by" labels contributing to food waste? New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer wants FDA to step in
PARAMUS, N.J. -- Some say confusing date labels are why huge amounts of food are thrown away everyday in American households.
"I try and buy what I know I'm going to be cooking or using in a short period of time, just to avoid that whole 'Is it still good?'" said Yolanda Semelsberger of Woodcliff Lake.
Try as we may, food still gets tossed. The USDA estimates nearly 40% of the food we buy ends up in the trash.
Part of the problem is confusion over food date labels. There are a lot. "Use by" seems pretty clear, but then there are "Best if used by," "Enjoy by" and "Sell by."
"So you have a sell by date, which means a store has to sell it by that date. But a customer takes that home, has no clue how long that product is good for," said Barbara Bucknam, who runs food safety for Stew Leonard's.
More often than not, the food ends up in a landfill.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer is calling on the FDA to issue federal guidance for food date labels, so each manufacturer isn't deciding the language. He's also proposing congressional legislation on the issue.
"Let's put some constancy behind this. Let's have some standards," said Gottheimer.
Gottheimer met with Stew Leonard, Jr. at his store in Paramus. Leonard like the idea of federal standards, and says people should pay less attention to the dates and focus on the food itself.
"And when I was little, the way you told whether milk was good or not was you tasted it or smelled it. And I think that's a really important thing for people to think of when they look at food," said Leonard.
Food waste is bad for the environment and incredibly expensive. Experts say about $10 billion worth of food goes into the trash every year in New Jersey alone.
