Consumer knowledge and behaviors regarding food date labels and food waste

Abstract

Food date labels are commonly used by the food industry despite not being well understood by consumers. Consumers may mistakenly believe that food label dates are meant to convey information about a food's safety, but in many instances label dates are set by the food producer to indicate quality or freshness. Label date confusion may, therefore, contribute to household food waste, a growing social, economic, and environmental problem. Limited research has examined the impact food date labels may have on consumer food waste. The objective of this research was to determine consumer knowledge regarding three common food date labels and their meanings, and whether knowledge was related to food waste behaviors. An online survey of 1042 adults in the U.S. determined their use and knowledge of food date labels as well as their propensity to waste food as defined by disposing of food which would likely still be safe for consumption. The majority of respondents (81.6%) reported using food date labels. Only 57.4%, however, correctly identified what “best by, use by” meant, while 68.1% and 79.7% correctly identified the definitions of “expiration date” and “sell by date”, respectively. Respondents who correctly defined “best buy, use by” were less likely to throw food away if it had passed its “use by” date or was a shelf stable food without a visible date and were more likely to identify the “expiration date” as the only reason to throw away a food. The findings indicate that consumer education around the least understood food date label, “best by, use by” may help to reduce consumer food waste.