![]() GONZALEZ: The federal government doesn't actually require dates on any food except baby formula because the FDA says dates aren't really serving a safety role. In Idaho, it's 23 days.īROAD LEIB: And the fact that state laws vary so widely, I think, is evidence of the fact that this isn't really based in safety. In Montana, milk has to be sold within 12 days of pasteurization. GONZALEZ: Texas says we definitely need dates on shellfish. GONZALEZ: Today food date laws are all over the place.īROAD LEIB: One state requires date labels on milk, and another requires them on eggs, and a third state requires them only on cream. ![]() And so I introduced a bill, and everyone said, of course we should have date labels on products. And I brought them home, and they were stale. And then state lawmakers started to introduce food date laws based on some experience they had.īROAD LEIB: Often it was like, I went to the store. But when we start getting more and more processed food and we start getting most of our food from grocery stores instead of farms, that's when we start wanting to know, like, how long is this orange juice good for? By the 1970s, 95% of consumers think dates on food are the most useful thing. And they'd just look at it, smell it, taste it and know if it went bad. GONZALEZ: But food didn't always have a date on it, right? Before World War II, before everyone got a refrigerator, people got most of their food from farms. They want to make sure that people eat food when it tastes its best. But I think manufacturers would say that there's a benign explanation for why they like using dates, and it's that they are really wanting to protect their brand. GONZALEZ: Do manufacturers like that we have all these dates so that we then buy more sooner?īROAD LEIB: Well, they definitely want to buy more. You know, methane is a really potent greenhouse gas. landfills.īROAD LEIB: So when food goes to the landfill, it is a big emitter of methane. And it's not just about wasting food or wasting the water and resources that went into making it. ![]() Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, the Harvard Food Law Clinic - they all say that consumer uncertainty about the meaning of food dates is part of the food waste problem. and you just walk to the trash can and put one of them in the trash. Every single time, you come out, and you buy three bags of groceries. ![]() at the farm level, the manufacturing level, at grocery stores - about 40% of it happens at the home.īROAD LEIB: So it's - you know, you're going to the grocery store once a week. And she says that of all the food waste that happens in the U.S. She started the Food Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School. GONZALEZ: Emily Broad Leib is a food expiration date and food law expert. Just did that with eggs.įood dates guide our buying decisions, and they tell shoppers, like me and Lindsay Addington, when to throw things out.ĮMILY BROAD LEIB: Eighty-six percent of consumers report that they either always or usually throw food away based on the date. LINDSAY ADDINGTON: I look for the freshest date.ĪDDINGTON: Oh, yes, absolutely - do that with everything. SARAH GONZALEZ, BYLINE: When you shop for milk, what do you do? And Sarah Gonzalez with our Planet Money podcast reports, it leads to a lot of wasted food. Wasted is like an appointment with your food therapist.Shoppers put a lot of trust in the dates stamped on food packaging. Spacey gives us solutions, and he does so genially and sympathetically: if you feared a sermon from the pulpit, relax. Like the best works of art, it forces you to both look closely and to think carefully. "Wasted is so engaging, so wise, that you have to pinch yourself to remember that it’s a book about the stuff we all throw away every day.Wasted will change your mindset and reconnect you to real food, from the root to the tip. The book's ulterior motive may be to get us to think differently about ingredients and waste, but the driver for all these plant-based recipes is flavour. ![]() This book will help you to stop wasting food and turn perfectly good ingredients into delicious dishes. Blasta Books #7: Wasted is a capsule collection of recipes that have come from identifying some of the most wasted food items in our homes. ![]()
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