We waste too much food
Americans throw away roughly 133 billion pounds of food every year—about 30% of our food supply. That’s $29 billion worth of food going to the landfill, nourishing no one. Worse, growing and shipping food demands massive amounts of energy, water, labor and other natural resources. When we waste food, we are also wasting these resources. Food waste fills our landfills, wastes the water and energy used to produce our food, and contributes to climate change.
Confusing food date labels
One reason perfectly good food gets thrown away is confusing date labels. “Best by,” “use by,” “sell by” and “freshest by” can make it difficult to know whether food is still safe to eat. Confusing date labels are estimated to account for up to 10% of food waste in the U.S.
We can make food labels clearer. Washington should standardize date labels so that “best by” indicates freshness and “use by” indicates safety, replacing confusing labels like “sell by” and “freshest by.” Uniform date labels would standardize food date labeling practices to clearly communicate food quality and safety to reduce confusion and prevent unnecessary food waste.
Take Action
We shouldn’t throw perfectly good food in the trash. With your help, we can pass legislation by April 2027 to standardize food date labels, reduce food waste and keep more good food on people’s plates.