Food sold in grocery stores typically has one of date three labels on it: the "sell by" date, the "use by" date, and the "best by" date.
Sound confusing? You're not alone.
The Food and Drug Administration says millions of tons of food is wasted every year and now they want to better understand how you react to different labels.
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“A whole lot of times I will do the smell test," Norfolk resident Ray Davenport said,
The FDA says the smell test is typically good way to tell if something safe to eat.
“As long as it’s never been open, then it's safe to smell it. It's safe to taste it, to look at it and then you can make a decision as to whether or not it's appealing for you to eat,” said Dr. Conrad Choiniere, director of the Office of Microbiological Food Safety.
The FDA wants to hear from you.
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The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that the average family of four wastes about $1,500 dollars on uneaten food each year.
Across the country, in 2019, there 66 million tons of food was thrown away from restaurants and homes, with about 60 percent of it ending up in landfills, according to the USDA.
But the sell-by, use-by and best-by dates are not about food safety, Choiniere says.
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"They're about product quality, so many people may be throwing away food that is perfectly safe to eat,” he said.
And there are no set rules when it comes to the following labels.
“We don't have any standardized rules in place so this information could help us think about whether or not we should put in some standardized rules,” said Choiniere.
The hope is to eventually prevent so much food waste.
“From an economically standpoint," posits Davenport, "If it’s still good why throw it out?”
