Food Waste Unnecessary (in many cases)...

Americans are conditioned by labels & signs and food manufacturers take advantage of that, significantly. If a manufacturer puts a date on a package containing food, we assume that date is when the product is no longer suitable for consumption or at least close to being spoiled. As it turns out, that is a sales ploy in many cases. If your package says that the contents are expired, you go buy a new package. The food is not really expired or spoiled and in most cases still the same as the day it was packaged.

The National Resource Defense Council did a little footwork at discovered all this and the fact that the dates on most packages are not even regulated by anyone. A manufacturer can put any date they want on their product. Check out the post "Use-By" Dates: a Myth that Needs Busting by Dana Gunder from the NRDC.

So, just because the printed date has passed does not mean you have to throw away your food.

Thanks for reading,

-Joe