Food waste: People misread 'use by' label; 40% of U.S. food is tossed

[Liberal_in_LA]

Many consumers read an item’s sell-by date as an indicator of when the food will spoil. But it’s an inaccurate assumption, according to a study conducted by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic.

Manufacturers use sell-by dates to help retailers manage their inventory. It encourages stores to sell a product within a specific time frame so that the item still has a shelf life once it’s purchased.

Not even the common “best before” and “use by” labels indicate a deadline after which products go bad, according to researchers. Instead, they are producer estimates of how long the food will be at peak quality.

“Expiration dates are in need of some serious myth-busting because they’re leading us to waste money and throw out perfectly good food, along with all of the resources that went into growing it,” said Dana Gunders, an NRDC staff scientist. “Phrases like ‘sell by,’ ’use by,’ and ‘best before’ are poorly regulated, misinterpreted and leading to a false confidence in food safety.”

The misunderstanding comes at a steep price. Last year, the NRDC found that Americans throw out as much as 40% of the country’s food supply each year, adding up to $165 billion in losses.

Food waste makes up the largest portion of solid trash in landfills, according to researchers.

http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-food-expiration-labels-20130918,0,5071689.story

[wercal]

1. If its chicken or milk, it gets thrown out after that date

And with chicken I try to cook it a few before that date...chicken smells really bad when it spoils.

I'm curious....American's really throw out 40% of the food supply!?!? That seems way high.

This quote caught my eye:

"Food waste makes up the largest portion of solid trash in landfills, according to researchers."

My guess is most food waste in landfills comes from fast food restaurants, where they throw cooked food out after a few hours, if not quicker. if it doesn't get bought.

[Koko Ware]

2. Looking at my garbage when I haul 'em out weekly..

Yeah.. we throw out a lot of garbage.. and most of them is fruits and vegetables that has gone bad...

And my wife throws out the milk before "use by" date. A waste.

[wercal]

7. We sometimes throw fruit out

We have started the practice of leaving the fruit out, in the living room. Its out of sight, out of mind in the fridge drawer....got a better chance of getting eaten if its on the table, even if it might not last quite as long.

Common waste in my household: that last bit of the head of lettuce that went brown before you could use it up, tomatoes, chicken (sometimes it goes bad in 2-3 days, I'm considering freezing it), the old half an onion or half a bell pepper etc. that didn't get used, and bananas (have tried special green bags, in the fridge, out of the fridge, on a special hanger - nothing works).

[Laurian]

9. I peel and freeze over-ripened bananas for use in making

banana bread and banana cake. While bananas are relatively inexpensive, I just hate throwing them out. Freezing them for later use in baked goods has worked really well for me.

[wercal]

12. Thanks for the tip.

[cui bono]

18. Also for smoothies or non-dairy "ice-cream".

Frozen bananas have a great consistency to make an "ice-cream' like dessert. Just mix some other fruits in with them or some nuts or chocolate (cacao + dates if you don't want sugar) in a high speed blender or food processor. Yummy.

[Blue_In_AK]

40. Frozen bananas are great for smoothies.

I freeze all my fruit that's getting too ripe.

[wandy]

51. Thanks for that. Bananas go over ripe too quickley, but...........

They're never around when you feel like banana bread.
Worth trying.

[Liberal_in_LA]

61. i freeze them also

[csziggy]

22. I try to plan to use most of the things you're throwing out

I'll buy large packages of chicken breasts, bring them home, salt & pepper, bake them, cut them up, package in 1-2 cup batches, and freeze. Then when I need chicken for a quick or lazy dinner, I thaw out the cooked chicken and can toss it into a mix.

If I buy more onions, bell peppers, tomatoes, or other aromatics than I need for cooking that day, I usually go ahead and cook all of it. Then freeze the part I don't need and can pull it out to add to start my meal another day, which saves time. Since I like to caramelize my onions for many dishes, I might as well cook a large batch at once.

Bell peppers can be sliced or chopped and frozen without being cooked and used to add color and flavor, though they need to be cooked, not eaten thawed.

I second freezing bananas to use in smoothies or baked goods. I have a favorite banana bread recipe that calls for three bananas. I can add one banana at a time until I have three in a bag and make my bread whenever I feel like it.

The brown head of lettuce is one thing I never overcame. Now we buy bagged lettuce - that gives us a more interesting mix of greens and a smaller amount so we can use it before it goes bad.

[tabbycat31]

25. I second the comment about freezing bananas

I'm single and live alone, so I end up with a ton of frozen bananas (and I like mine green, brown spots earn them a place in the freezer).

I usually give everyone banana bread for Christmas so they eventually do get used. They take about 1/2 hour to thaw (sometimes less, if it's sunny I will put them outside in a bowl).

[malaise]

66. We stopped throwing out fruit

When our bananas are approaching too ripe, we peel them and place them in ziplock bags and freeze for banana bread or muffins. Most other fruit can be stewed and frozen.

We always have a bottle of home made pickled onions and throw that odd half right in there. Peppers freeze well and can be used in soups or stews.

[NYC_SKP]

4. Fast food and regular restaurants, schools, hospitals, and all the retail and wholesale outlets.

Think about it.

Also, it's been said that for every can of garbage you produce, there are 17 cans of garbage in the production stream that lead to your one can.

Watch this some time:

www.storyofstuff.com

[wercal]

11. I thought about fast food...and even edited my post with something about it...

But wow that number is huge.

At work, we go to a food warehouse once a month to help out. This place does food distribution to the hungry on an industrial scale...they have a fleet of big rig trucks that goes to the bakeries and grocery stores to get excess bread, buns, produce, and canned goods with screwed up labels, etc....and we break it down into smaller portions for the pantry or various 'soup kitchens' throughout the region. So no 'manufacturer' of food in the east half of Kansas should be throwing extra food away.

I understand cooked food is a whole different deal...but would it really go into the landfill? Wouldn't it at least get bought up by hog farmers, etc. My uncle used to buy expired bread for a nickel a lb. and feed it to hogs, for example...seems he could have a similar arrangement with McDonalds.

[NYC_SKP]

41. A lot does not go to landfills but goes instead to livestock or composting facilities.

It's a sin to send it to landfills, IMO.

[Sgent]

37. In my experience

restaurants (even fast food) tend to waste very little edible food. Especially busier ones sell enough to cycle their product relatively quickly, and they will reuse food in a different dish -- for instance at one restaurant I worked at the day old prime rib was turned into philly cheese steak sandwiches.

[NYC_SKP]

39. True but don't forget what diners fail to eat, unfinished meals.

What diners toss might exceed what restaurants toss.

[Sgent]

43. That makes more sense

I couldn't imagine how any restaurant kitchen would throw away 40% of their food -- but if you include customers meals I could seek it easily.

[Gormy Cuss]

45. The 40% figure includes estimates from farm to table as well as consumer loss.

according to the cited NRDC report:
http://www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted-food-ip.pdf

Waste in production, waste in processing, waste at retail, and waste in the kitchen or at the table all contribute.

[Wilms]

8. Probably from a recent UN report.

I really wish news articles provided footnotes, etc.

The report, published Wednesday by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, found each year about a third of the food produced for human consumption worldwide — about 1.3 billion metric tons — is wasted, a practice which emits the equivalent of about 3.3 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases. That’s about twice the amount of carbon emitted from the U.S.’s transportation sector and close to twice the yearly emissions of India. That wasted food also wastes water — the report states that about 250 cubic kilometers of ground and surface water is used each year to produce food that is ultimately wasted, an amount about three times the volume of Lake Geneva in Switzerland.

Tackling the problem of food waste isn’t simple — the report notes that food waste is produced differently in different regions of the world. In general, high-income regions waste significantly more food than developing regions, and in those regions, more food is wasted at the consumption level, as a result of people buying too much food and throwing away what they aren’t able to eat. This happens at a much lower rate in low-income regions, where food waste is often caused by inefficient farming practices and the lack of proper equipment and storage areas. The report suggests more investment in sustainable harvesting and storage methods, and also urges businesses in the developed world to donate extra food to charities instead of dumping it in landfills. That suggestion can be harder than it seems to carry out — in the U.S., many charities are often worried about violating health codes in their states or cities by accepting leftover food that isn’t still in its can or package.

snip

The global average for food waste still trails the American average — about 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. is thrown away. Some in the U.S. is starting to wake up to this fact — the Department of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Agency have teamed up in an attempt to educate consumers and retailers about food waste and its effects, and New York City unveiled a new food recycling program in June. That program will take about a tenth of the food wasted by New Yorkers each year and turn it into bio gas, in hopes of reducing the amount of food in landfills and helping the city lower its electricity bill.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/09/11/2604811/food-waste-report/

[hfojvt]

13. funny thing about milk

before I moved it to the lower shelf, my milk would go bad a couple days before the date on the jug. But if I have milk that "tastes funny" to me, and which I know (from past experience) is likely to give me cramps, I can give it to the dogs. They lap it up like it is the biggest treat ever and it never seems to bother them.

A couple of vetrinarians have said that cows milk for dogs is a bad idea, but I have raised six puppies now and they all have had milk, loved milk, and never shown any ill effects from milk - with two exceptions. Two of my puppies had worms and milk made them throw up until they were de-wormed.

[RebelOne]

16. When I smell the milk and it smells like it is going sour,

I toss it. I just poured 1/3 of a gallon down the sink today. I only use less than a quart a week, but quart containers of milk are hard to find, so I waste more than I use.

[Gormy Cuss]

47. Milk can be frozen.

There's some degradation in quality but it beats having to throw it out on a regular basis.

[hfojvt]

48. my grandmother

used to make cottage cheese out of it

although I am not sure if people who love cottage cheese should watch it being made.

[DJ13]

26. I usually add some water to (whole) milk when I give it to the dogs

Usually 2 parts milk, 1 part water.

I read somewhere (dont remember) that its better for them that way.

Gives them a third more too.

[hfojvt]

29. I drink skim milk

so it's already 1/3 watered down (LOL)

It's funny that I grew up on 2% and drank whole when I could get it (like at school, I would grab the little half pint of whole milk at lunch), since I was trying to gain weight. When I got out on my own, I started buying 1% because it was about 16 cents a gallon cheaper than 2%. Skim milk was even cheaper than 1% but seemed too watery to me at the time. 1% otoh, was not that different from 2%.

Later (probably 30 years ago) I switched to skim. The step from 1% to skim was not so big any more.

Now the local store stopped carrying skim, and sometimes rather than go the extra mile to another store, I will be forced to buy 2%. And it looks like sludge to me, like I am drinking half and half or something.

It's funny what you get used to.

[dionysus]

32. growing up i thought skim milk was GROSS. years later, i switched to it and didn't have

any problem with the taste.

[hfojvt]

46. I think they got better at making it

to me, it does not look the same as it used to

but people who don't drink it, still think it is gross. At least in my unscientific survey of two.

[d_r]

33. you can tell if milk is bad

by a sniff

[RebelOne]

44. Yes, you can tell immediately when it is going sour by smelling it.

If it smells the least little bit sour, it goes down the drain.

[Heywood J]

64. I learned from my mother to pour it in a cup of hot water.

If it curdles, it's done. I've had milk that had gone off without smelling too horrible, but that's possibly because of the temperature of my fridge.

[geek tragedy]

3. Eh, I'll continue to toss stuff out that's past it's sell by/use by dates.

Why take that chance?

[hfojvt]

5. ironic timing

I just finished eating a bag of chips that was thrown away by a machine vendor. It said "guaranteed fresh by Sep. 10th"

Which said to me "not likely to kill you on September 18th".

Well, except for the saturated fats, in the moderately long run.

[quinnox]

6. Yup. As long as you smell the food and it doesn't smell bad, chances are it is still good

even after the sell by date. You can get good deals on food that is one day past its sell by date at supermarkets, because they know most people have an irrational fear that the food is bad and won't buy it, so they usually will sell it half price or even cheaper.

Also, the same thing applies to medicines expiration dates (but on a much greater time scale). They are, by and large, bullshit. Studies have proved this, for example, they tested aspirin, and it was still 90% potent 7 years after its expiration date.

[ZRT2209]

10. many times those labels are barely legible

[hollysmom]

14. I drink milk like 3 days after the use by date

and I eat cheese until I see mold. I keep eggs for a long time, sailors keep eggs for 6 months at see, but they rub it in fat to preserve them. Most things are good past the date, mostly I try and buy only what I can eat in a couple of weeks, less waste that way and my freezer stays full but the refridge, not so much. So I will keep eggs months after the sell date, but will test them if baking,if I am only making one egg, I can tell if it is bad when I crack it. haven't died yet, try to donate food I am not going to eat before the sell date, or give it to the dog.

[RebelOne]

20. I toss that are a couple of months old.

I do not eat too many eggs and try to buy them in the 1/2 dozen containers. Kroger usually has them, but today when I went shopping, they were all out, so I had to buy a full dozen. Half a dozen of those eggs will go to waste. Occasionally, my dog will eat eggs, but only if I mix them with cheese. She likes omelets.

[d_r]

34. I cut the mold off the cheese and keep going!

[RebelOne]

42. I do the same. I don't eat much bread and sometimes it molds.

I cut off the moldy sections and toast the rest.

[hollysmom]

63. OMG - my friends give me such a hard time if I do this, I finally freeze most of the bread and take

out a few slices when I need it , so I don't have to hear about this - but it is what Mom did. waste not want not. I throw out a can of garbage abut once month and it is not full, mostly it is when I am throwing out way old clothes that became soiled rags. I recycle all packaging, I recycle every week, but garbage not so much - vegetables can be mulched in the yard.

[WinkyDink]

15. Preparing us for when we must consume inferior products "that are actually fine."

[LanternWaste]

38. Or teaching us not to waste products "that are actually fine."

Or teaching us not to waste products "that are actually fine."

But yeah... six of one, half a dozen of the other...

[WinkyDink]

54. Except "not to waste" is antithetical to the consumerist society in which we live.

[BoWanZi]

17. I'm always buying "outdated" food! I buy the majority of our meats at the clearance meat bins

I like paying 50 percent off meat. I freeze the majority of it to use later on.

The best are buying a steak that was originally like 8.99 a pound then dropped to 6.99 a pound and then finally 50 percent off in the clearance bins.

3.50 a pound for steaks that originally were 9 or 10 a pound? I'm all for that.

I also routinely use canned/baking goods past their use dates provided they pass the smell and visual tests.

I bought some clearance chips that were originally 3 dollars for a dollar and they were like 2 or 3 months beyond their "best used by" date. They were fine.

[Freddie]

27. I do the same

My store sells about-to-expire meat at half price, will use it that day or freeze it right away.

[d_r]

35. me too

I can't bear to pay regular price for it

[NightWatcher]

19. They need to put a Dispose Of Date on food that tells when it will be bad

or unfit to eat. Anything before the DoD is fine. It may not be at it's freshest, but it still should be ok.

Sell by, Best By, Enjoy Before..... are all apparently too confusing for the general public

[Laurian]

21. I wonder if that's not by design. A marketing ploy so that

you throw it away and buy more.

[Link Speed]

23. I shop daily

I only purchase what I am going to have for dinner that evening and breakfast/brunch the next day. Fortunately, I live in an area where most of what I buy is locally produced. I doubt that there is anything in my refrigerator or pantry with a 'sell by' date on it.

[Behind the Aegis]

24. Unless it stinks, has a fur coat, or talks back to me, I will usually eat it.

There are some things which is really important not to eat if past an expiration date because it can make you really ill, but that is usually meat.

ETA: For those eggs past the "due date," those are the best for making hard-boiled eggs!!!

[jberryhill]

28. Yep

...or at least cut off any clearly rotting regions of whatever it is.

[REP]

31. The eggs I get don't have a "use by" date

They come from my back yard!

[azurnoir]

50. Your brave with the eggs

I'm quite leery of them if they're less than a week past date I'll use them in baking but boil or scramble NO

[REP]

30. I have chickens. Nothing goes to waste.

On the rare occasions vegetables don't get eaten before they go off, they go to the chickens. They get my apple cores and ends of anything we don't eat.

I bake all our bread; if we don't finish a loaf, the skunks get it. They get the table scraps the chickens won't eat. I put my coffee grounds on the roses and the skunks eat those, too!

Canned and boxed goods? If the can isn't deformed or leaking, it's good forever. If the box is clean, unopened and dry, it's probably fine, too.

Meat is the only thing I make sure to use by the expiration date or a few days after it; even though I make an effort to buy the most humanely raised/produced meat possible, I'm still a bit wary of the meat supply.

[darkangel218]

36. What kind of skunks are they, wild ones?

[SoCalDem]

57. I don't trust canned foods anymore...(BPA can-liners)

The newer cans are lined with a plastic coating, and who knows what those chemicals leaching into food can do to humans

http://www.thedailygreen.com/going-green/tips/bpa-in-canned-foods
Eat Canned Foods Sparingly
Test find bisphenol-A, a synthetic estrogen better known for leaching into food from plastics, in canned foods.

By Dan Shapley

Canned food is good to have around in an emergency, and it tends to be affordable. Unfortunately, cheap convenience may come at a cost. At least three recent sets of tests, by Consumer Reports, by the Environmental Working Group and most recently by the Food and Drug Administration, have found that a chemical leaches from the lining of cans into food.

That chemical is bisphenol-A, or BPA, a synthetic estrogen better known for leaching into foods from plastics. While the the chemical and food industries continue to stand behind the safety of low-dose BPA exposure, many consumer and health advocates are worried enough by independent scientific studies to warn people to avoid exposure whenever possible. The FDA has generally supported the safety of the chemical, though it has published strategies for avoiding exposure, and the National Toxicology Program has raised concerns about its potential effects on reproduction and development.

Chemicals like BPA are known as "endocrine disruptors" because they mimic the body's hormones; because hormones trigger biological responses at minute concentrations, the thinking goes, so might these synthetic cousins. Exposure to BPA has been linked, primarily in lab animal studies, to a range of possible health problems ranging from obesity to infertility.

Another recent study, small but instructive, found that a family reduced its exposure to BPA 60% by swapping fresh foods for canned and packaged foods. (There is at least one BPA-free canned food alternative, from Eden Organic, which costs more but comes without the chemical worry; $25.50 for 12 15-ounce cans of black beans, for instance, at amazon.com.)

Tests showing that BPA leached from plastic baby bottles into formula prompted at least eight states, along with most major retailers and bottle makers, to phase BPA out of plastic baby bottles. Many water bottle makers have followed suit. But BPA remains a component of the lining of canned foods and canned beverages like soda. (It's also been found in residue left on fingers after handling sales receipts and dollar bills.) For those concerned about exposing themselves, or for pregnant women concerned about exposing their developing baby, eating more fresh fruits and vegetables in place of canned foods is one important strategy.

[REP]

60. Well ... in an emergency, my fertility will be the last of my concerns!

After all, I've been sterilized twice!

Seriously, though - ick.

[subterranean]

49. The same apparently is true of medicines.

With a few exceptions (nitroglycerin, insulin, liquid antibiotics), most drugs can safely be used well past their expiration dates according to various studies.

http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml

[irisblue]

52. organic milk

it keeps much longer then the non organic, tastes better to me and while it does cost more, the amount I drink in 2/3 weeks, makes it a fair price

[Curmudgeoness]

53. I have beat my head against the wall at work.

My coworkers all believe that the "sell by" date is written in stone as the "must throw out" date. I am shocked at the amount of food that they waste, at the office and at their homes.

I only throw out things that are obviously rotten.....slimy veggies, rotten fruit, sour smelling milk. And I try not to let anything get to that point. It is usually something that came from the store bad already, like a few grapes in a package or something. If I have too many veggies at once, I will blanch and freeze some of them.

I hate milk, but use it in my coffee and cooking. I can never use a half-gallon before it goes bad (which tends to be a week after the sell by date), so I start to make chocolate milk with syrup to drink some (THAT milk I will drink). Eggs last for months and months. Meat is frozen immediately when I get it home unless I am cooking it that day. And don't buy more than you will be able to use or freeze, no matter what the price.

I don't even consider the "use by" dates on anything....although I do when I am buying things. I get the freshest foods.

[snagglepuss]

55. k and r

[JCMach1]

56. No food gets wasted at my house any more... my chickens eat any left-overs they like from the

compost pile. This pile also gets the chicken waste which all gets mixed together with yard waste like leaves. Oh yeah, and the chickens do all the work, they turn the compost completely every few days.

The food gets converted back to eggs and the compost creates more food.

[RedCappedBandit]

58. I pretty much never throw out food unless it stinks or looks off..

No ill health effects yet.

[Retrograde]

59. I think it's because fewer people know how to handle real food

People aren't learning to cook from scratch by their parents, and that includes learning how to shop and how to determine whether ingredients are good, bad or indifferent.

I hang around on a cooking site, and it's amazing that even there there's at least a query a day from someone who's convinced there's a magic binary switch that makes food go from edible to not edible instantly. It's a gradual process, and depends a lot on how the items are handled and stored throughout their existence. I trust my eyes and nose more than a printed date.

[nobodyspecial]

62. I eat expired foods all of the time.

Dry goods are usually fine unless you have pantry bugs. And you can taste or smell anything if it's off. Yeast, baking powder and baking soda need to be fresh to work correctly.

[Heywood J]

65. This assumes the food has a human-readable date.

I've seen far too many cans with markings like 4Q184. What am I supposed to make of that?

[Orrex]

67. I believe that translates to "F**k you, I ate four."

You should throw it out for being rude food.

[ladyVet]

68. We can't afford to throw out food at my house.

Very little goes to waste, and if it can't be eaten it's either composted, fed to the dog or trashed if not edible for somebody's lunch.

We usually eat a big main meal at dinner (no breakfast and little at lunch), and if the youngest isn't home my middle son and I know we have free lunch the next day! Any left overs can make a decent lunch, if I'm creative. Or not picky. It's amazing what looks good together, if you're hungry.

I learned years ago that those Best By and Sell By dates don't mean the food is bad. Eggs will last damn near forever, and most everything can be frozen.

I forgot to say that any milk, yogurt or sour cream that hangs around long enough to spoil gets put down the drain/toilet, because we're on a septic system. Yum, bacteria!