Sell by dates are often misunderstood and other labels are the main reason for the thrown out food in the grocery store industry. He explains the difference between “best-before “and “ use by” dates. Best before dates is the guarantee of quality and the use by date is a guide to food safety. While these dates are mandatory to have on the products, “sell by” or “display until” dates are not. This dating system has been around for nearly 30 years and consumers are still confused on what these dates exactly mean. The government should take responsibility to explain these labels to the consumers and the retailers. By explaining this, it could greatly reduce the pounds of food we waste each year. (Stuart, …show more content…
Valuable brands live in fear of food poisoning causing to damage their head lines. For some products, manufacturers and super markets determine the shelf life. They often have to think of the worst case scenario and account for huge margins of error when they set the date. They even have to imagine if the customer was to leave a product in a car in the summer time, this will make the product vulnerable to bacteria. As a result from this they often set the date a couple days earlier than it should be. This year in June, a new grocery store opened named Rally’s in Northern California. They started a program called “Real good”. This program will sell defectively produce at a low price. “Raley’s is proud to take a meaningful step forward to help reduce food waste in our country,” said Meg Burritt, Director of Wellness & Sustainability. “Our ‘Real Good’ produce will educate our customers about the food system, offer our growers a new pathway to market their produce, and provide greater access to produce that is aesthetically imperfect, but just as flavorful and nutritious.”