posted on Oct, 2 2013 @ 06:28 PM
I should start saying I've been a victim of this misunderstood a few times in my life, right now this is mistake we can't afford anymore. I hope you
can spend few minutes reading this information.
NEW YORK (September 18, 2013) – U.S. consumers and businesses needlessly trash billions of pounds of food every year as a result of
America’s dizzying array of food expiration date labeling practices, which need to be standardized and clarified, according to a new report
co-authored by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School’s Food Law and Policy Clinic. One key finding from an industry-conducted
survey: More than 90 percent of Americans may be prematurely tossing food because they misinterpret food labels as indicators of food
Let me do the math.....90% of american is about 39,885,098,400
As of January 1, 2013, the United States had a total resident population of44 316,776,000,
...and the result of that is :
Americans trash up to 40 percent of our food supply every year, equivalent to $165 billion.
Yep, embarrasing numbers...., I must say.
False Notions that Food is Unsafe – 91 percent of consumers occasionally throw food away based on the “sell by” date out of a mistaken concern
for food safety even though none of the date labels actually indicate food is unsafe to eat;
•Consumer Confusion Costs – an estimated 20 percent of food wasted in U.K. households is due to misinterpretation of date labels. Extending the
same estimate to the U.S., the average household of four is losing $275-455 per year on food needlessly trashed;
•Business Confusion Costs – an estimated $900 million worth of expired food is removed from the supply chain every year. While not all of this is
due to confusion, a casual survey of grocery store workers found that even employees themselves do not distinguish between different kinds of
•Mass Amounts of Wasted Food – The labeling system is one factor leading to an estimated 160 billion pounds of food trashed in the U.S. every
year, making food waste the single largest contributor of solid waste in the nation’s landfills.
"20 percent of food wasted in U.K", .... seems like our british brothers also have the same problem (I don't know why they included the U. K. people
in this report, must be to make us feel less guilty).
While the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture have the power to regulate food labeling to ensure
consumers are not misled, both agencies have failed to adequately exercise their authority. FDA does not require food companies to place any date
labels on food products, leaving the information entirely at the discretion of the manufacturer. The only product for which a date is federally
regulated is infant formula.
Food producers and retailers can begin to adopt the following recommended changes to date labels voluntarily but government steps, including
legislation by Congress and more oversight by FDA and USDA, should be considered as well:
• Making “sell by” dates invisible to consumers, as they indicate business-to-business labeling information and are mistakenly interpreted as
• Establishing a more uniform, easily understandable date label system that communicates clearly with consumers by 1) using consistent, unambiguous
language; 2) clearly differentiating between safety- and quality-based dates; 3) predictably locating the date on package; 4) employing more
transparent methods for selecting dates; and other changes to improve coherency;
• Increasing the use of safe handling instructions and “smart labels” that use technology to provide additional information on the product’s
According to me, a conspiracy here big time. It's a circle between food manufactures, retailers and FDA. Taking advantage of our ignorance in order to
make us spend more. A simple plan that works like a charm.
edit on 2-10-2013 by Trueman because: (no reason given)