{"id":5329,"date":"2024-02-19T16:47:14","date_gmt":"2024-02-19T09:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/?p=5329"},"modified":"2024-02-19T16:47:14","modified_gmt":"2024-02-19T09:47:14","slug":"food-expiration-dates-dont-mean-what-you-think","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/food-expiration-dates-dont-mean-what-you-think\/","title":{"rendered":"Food expiration dates don\u2019t mean what you think"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>TLDR<\/strong>: US households waste 37% of food, often due to misunderstanding labels indicating freshness, not safety. Experts call for standardized labels to reduce waste.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is a summary of a You Tube video &#8220;Food expiration dates don\u2019t mean what you think&#8221; by TED-Ed<br \/>\n<iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jDg8DQl7ZeQ?si=ANnsWDji99d9smR2\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>Key Takeaways:<\/h3>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>High Food Waste<\/strong>: The United States is one of the largest contributors to food waste, with 37% of it coming from households.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Misinterpretation of Dates<\/strong>: Approximately 20% of household food waste is due to consumers misunderstanding the meaning of date labels on food.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Safety vs. Freshness<\/strong>: The dates on food items often indicate peak freshness rather than safety, and many foods are safe to consume past these dates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Historical Context<\/strong>: Before supermarkets, people relied on their senses to judge food freshness. Date labeling emerged as processed foods became more common.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Open Dating System<\/strong>: Initiated in the 1970s, this system indicates optimum freshness rather than expiration, with little scientific basis for the chosen dates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Food Longevity<\/strong>: Many foods, including shelf-stable items, canned goods, and frozen dinners, remain safe to eat well beyond their labeled dates.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Exceptions to Safety<\/strong>: Certain products, like meat, ready-to-eat salads, and unpasteurized cheeses, should be consumed by their dates to avoid health risks.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consumer Confusion<\/strong>: Over 70% of Americans rely on date labels to determine edibility, contributing to unnecessary waste.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Advocacy for Standardization<\/strong>: Experts suggest standardizing date labels to &#8220;Best if used by&#8221; for freshness and &#8220;Use by&#8221; for safety to reduce waste.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Government and Retailer Actions<\/strong>: Policies encouraging donation of unsold food and removing date labels on produce could further reduce waste.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>US households waste 37% of food, often due to misunderstanding labels indicating freshness, not safety. Experts call for standardized labels to reduce waste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5330,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5329","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-43","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5329"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5331,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5329\/revisions\/5331"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5330"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5329"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5329"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wam.vn\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5329"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}