Source: Consumer Perceptions of Food Date Labels

U.S. consumers report discarding food near or past the label date even more often than they did in 2016, according to new findings from a national survey on U.S. consumer perceptions of food date labels. Researchers from the Harvard Law School Food Law and Policy Clinic, ReFED, and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health published updated 2025 findings from a survey that was first done in 2016. The 2025 survey, conducted January 10-14, 2025, by The Harris Poll among over 2,000 U.S. adults, found that 43% of U.S. consumers say they always or usually discard food near or past the label date (up from 37% in 2016), and 88% say they do so at least occasionally (up from 84% in 2016). The findings are significant because most food remains safe to eat past the printed date, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

ReFED estimates that U.S. consumers waste close to 35 million tons of food annually at a value of nearly $800/person. “Confusion over date labels alone leads U.S. consumers to throw away about three billion pounds of food, worth $7 billion, every year,” according to ReFED, which identifies standardizing date labels as one of the most cost-effective solutions for reducing food waste.

Additional key findings and interpretations from the 2025 survey, notes a ReFED blog, include:

• While an average of 87% of U.S. consumers believed they knew the meanings of eight different labels, when quizzed, only an average of 53% answered correctly.
• Consumers use date labels differently depending on the food item. Misinformed choices lead to food safety risk when food that should be discarded is not (e.g., deli meats), and unnecessary waste when food that’s still edible is thrown away (e.g., breakfast cereal).
• 44% of U.S. consumers mistakenly think the federal government regulates the phrases on food date labels (up from 36% in 2016) when in fact only the date labels on infant formula are federally regulated.

California enacted the nation’s first mandatory food date labeling reform bill in September 2024. It prohibits the use of consumer facing “sell by” dates, reducing the likelihood of confusing “sell by” dates with quality and/or safety dates. Starting July 1, 2026, “BEST if Used By” will be used to communicate peak quality, and “Use By” will be used to communicate product safety.