Carla Schwan, assistant professor in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences nutritional sciences department and UGA Cooperative Extension food safety specialist, spoke with GPB about how confusion around grocery labels contributes to food waste.
“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.
Consumers 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.
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.
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 is to organize the food in your fridge or even in your pantry as you buy it, so first in, first out.”