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Photo:Getty Images. EatingWell design.
Getty Images. EatingWell design.
Sometimes knowing if your food is still good is a guessing game. Maybe you’ve rooted around in the fridge and found a bag of recently expired cheese or a pack of chicken with a smeared expiration date. And when those dates don’t quite help you determine if something has gone bad—or if you’re just too hopeful to believe them—you may have to turn to thequick mold checkand sniff-test method.
Do Food Expiration Dates Really Mean Anything?
According to a 2021 United Nations report, about 17% of the food produced globally each year gets tossed. That’s about 1.03 billion tons of food each year!
And the Food and Drug Administration reports that 30% to 40% of the food in the United States goes uneaten—as much as 20 pounds of food per person per month—and confusion over food labeling accounts for 20% of that food waste.
Apparently, the state legislature of California has grown tired of the guessing game—and the estimated 6 million tons of unexpired food that gets wasted in the state each year. The state Senate and Assembly recently passed a law that will make expiration dates clearer for products sold in California.
California’s new law is set to take effect in July 2026. It will require a “Best if Used By” label, signaling the product’s peak quality, and “Use By” label for product safety. Exempt from the law are eggs, beer and other malt beverages.
What About the Rest of Us?
If you don’t live in California, you’ll most likely still have to deal with the old labels, though some California legislators are hoping their new law will encourage other states or the federal government to follow suit. In the meantime, here are a few tips to help clear up some of the confusion.
Is It Safe to Eat Moldy Bread?
The Bottom Line
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Sources
EatingWell uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read oureditorial processto learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable and trustworthy.
U.S. Department of Agriculture: Food Safety and Inspection Service.Food product dating.
United Nations Environment Programme.UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2021.
U.S. Food & Drug Administration.How to cut food waste and maintain food safety.
Associated Press.Is the food in the fridge still good? California wants to end the guessing game.
