Food expiration dates: A great American scam (U.S.-specific)
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Aug. 13, 2025
According to a USDA estimate (2022), roughly one-third of all food
produced for human consumption is wasted. In a peer-reviewed
research paper published in the Science magazine (2018), this
accounts for 24 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions
attributable to food production, and 6 percent of total global GHG
emissions. This figure does not include methane emissions from
landfills due to aerobic decomposition of thrown-away food.
Combined, food waste is one of the major human-related causes of
climate change.
In other words, we waste a lot of food. Typical suburban,
middle-class U.S. shoppers would fill up their massive supermarket
shopping carts once a week, whether or not they really need all
these things. And a lot of this ends up in the trash. While an
increasing number of cities now allow collections of food scraps in
the yard debris bins, thanks to an improved compost system, the
most important step one can take is to reduce the waste in the
first place.
Too often, American consumers throw away perfectly good and edible
food because they are "expired." What they do not know, however, is
that the "sell-by" or "use-by" dates on food packaging are not
defined by any regulation or scientific facts (with the sole
exception of baby formulas, regulated by the FDA), and are rather
set by manufacturers to boost their profit margins by ensuring that
retailers frequently restock and rotate their inventories. In fact,
it is not even illegal to sell "expired" food in the U.S., but most
retailers want to project the image that everything they sell is
"fresh," so they often dispose of items that are well before their
"sell-by" dates. In other words, this is one big scam that
shortchanges consumers and harms the planet.
p.s.: There used to be two stores in North Portland that only sold
"expired" food that they purchased from major supermarkets and
distributors for pennies on the dollar. Plew's Market and 3 Boys
Market served what were then considered low-income neighborhoods
well and are sorely missed.
=>
https://grist.org/food/2011-11-18-use-by-dates-a-myth-that-needs-busting/
"Use-by" dates: A myth that needs busting
=>
https://web.archive.org/web/20250715045812/https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/blog/food-waste-and-its-links-greenhouse-gases-and-climate-change
Food waste and its links to greenhouse gases and climate change
=>
https://ourworldindata.org/food-waste-emissions Food waste is
responsible for 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions
=>
https://www.eatsmartwasteless.com/overview/ Eat Smart Waste Less
=>
https://foodhero.org/ingredients Food Hero
