Around 30% of all food produced in the U.S. goes to waste. A joint strategy from the USDA and the FDA is attempting to cut that number in half. GPB's Chase McGee reports.

Close up of the "best by" date on a carton of eggs

The "best by" date on a carton of eggs is shown.

Credit: Khari Sampson / GPB News

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is nearing its March 5 deadline for public comment on food date labeling, a consumer-minded practice that researchers say results in billions of dollars of wasted food.

In June of 2024, the Biden administration debuted the "National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics," which, among other goals, aims to cut food loss and waste in half by 2030.

According to the USDA, around 30% of all food produced goes to waste. In 2010, that number totaled around $161 billion worth of food.

Some preliminary commenters have indicated that manufacturer labels like "Sell By," "Use By," and "Best By" create confusion about when their groceries have actually gone bad.

As a result, they're more likely to throw out perfectly good groceries.

Dr. Carla Schwan is the director of the National Center for Home Food Preservation at the University of Georgia. She said some studies have attempted to explain consumer confusion.

"The research that is out there shows that a lot of the confusion comes from labeling dates ... and if you coupled that with overpurchasing, then it kind of exacerbates the problem."

Schwan said some of the food labels in question are purely for retailers' use, as a way for manufacturers to communicate to retailers when they should take unsold goods off their shelves.

But consumers can adopt other habits to track freshness.

"Maybe you can keep a diary and see how much you eat of each category of food," Schwan said. "That would help you understand how much you need to buy, instead of just buying and guessing that you're going to eat it and then you don't. Another thing, organizing the food in your fridge or even in your pantry as you buy it, so first in, first out."

She also recommends USDA services such as the FoodKeeper app, which shows consumers how long they can keep their groceries before they start to spoil.

For more information on leaving public comment on date labeling and other industry practices, visit fsis.usda.gov.

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