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California bans sell-by dates

foodandwine.com

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Re: California bans sell-by dates

#21

Post by toomuchtodo »

doublerabbit wrote: post #18
LeFantome wrote: post #11

This all makes massive sense to me. The people in my life treat any date on food as an expiry date and throw out massive amounts of perfectly edible food. Also, people do not seem to have any concept about the rate at which different food products spoil. Some things can be used way past the dates I see. Others really are going off by then.

Meanwhile we have gotten rid of expiry dates here in the UK. And I have bought fruits and vegetables that all look fine on the outside but inside are rotten. Not only frustrating this then wastes my time and my money. Items do need expiry dates, sugar does not, fresh produce and vegetables do. However, educating that your food isn't instantly bad when it's gone pass would encourage people to waste less food.

It feels like the solution to this is some sort of in app mechanism to be able to submit evidence back to the grocer that the produce or other perishable was not in condition to be sold, and for them to credit your account accordingly. This saves you a trip back to the store. If they’re selling perishables that have already gone bad, certainly, that sounds like a supply chain failure if they’re offering that for sale which should be going right into the compost waste stream.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#22

Post by brudgers »

hnpolicestate wrote: post #19

I wonder, if someone purchases and eats a spoiled food item that would have had a sell by date before the ban, will they have legal standing to sue the state? I assume this is different than expiration date?

If you seek an informed opinion, ask your lawyer.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#23

Post by doublerabbit »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #21
doublerabbit wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meanwhile we have gotten rid of expiry dates here in the UK. And I have bought fruits and vegetables that all look fine on the outside but inside are rotten. Not only frustrating this then wastes my time and my money. Items do need expiry dates, sugar does not, fresh produce and vegetables do. However, educating that your food isn't instantly bad when it's gone pass would encourage people to waste less food.

It feels like the solution to this is some sort of in app mechanism to be able to submit evidence back to the grocer that the produce or other perishable was not in condition to be sold, and for them to credit your account accordingly. This saves you a trip back to the store. If they’re selling perishables that have already gone bad, certainly, that sounds like a supply chain failure if they’re offering that for sale…

Save's a trip sure, but I'm out of a meal for the day.

I make dinner on a day by day basis. What I mean is that I stop at the supermarket on the way home, buy what I need and then make dinner rather than stocking the ingredients. I find this method for me a good way to get out of the work mantra.

Knowing I can make dinner and then drink to it with a glass of wine. So to get home, find out that X vegetable has expired now means I have to find time to take it to the store or throw it out and waste my money nor have the ability to make what I planned.

If you order online, you can request a refund without much hassle but I don't do that.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#24

Post by toomuchtodo »

doublerabbit wrote: post #23
toomuchtodo wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It feels like the solution to this is some sort of in app mechanism to be able to submit evidence back to the grocer that the produce or other perishable was not in condition to be sold, and for them to credit your account accordingly. This saves you a trip back to the store. If they’re selling perishables that have already gone bad, certainly, that sounds like a supply chain failure if they’re offering that for sale…

Save's a trip sure, but I'm out of a meal for the day. I make dinner on a day by day basis. What I mean is that I stop at the supermarket on the way home, buy what I need and then make dinner rather than stocking the ingredients. I find this method for me a good way to get out of the work mantra. Knowing I can make dinner and then drink to it with a glass of wine. So to get home, find out that X vegetable has expired…

Hard problem to solve for sure :(

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#25

Post by AngryData »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #17
kaikai wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in a grocery coop and it depended on the vendor. For some, they controlled how much stock we carried and would take back anything that didn’t sell. For things that we ordered directly and chose how much to carry, we were responsible for expired food costs.

This is something I have idly wondered. Where does the expired food go? Both “literally rotting” and “canned good safe for a decade, but we toss it after 12 months”. Landfill? Animal feed? Some amount of charity for the salvageable items? A typical grocery store could produce an incredible amount of daily waste.

It isnt uncommon for pig farmers to buy bulked spoiled or old food. I don't know how much that represents overall though.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#26

Post by achileas »

doublerabbit wrote: post #18
LeFantome wrote: post #11

This all makes massive sense to me. The people in my life treat any date on food as an expiry date and throw out massive amounts of perfectly edible food. Also, people do not seem to have any concept about the rate at which different food products spoil. Some things can be used way past the dates I see. Others really are going off by then.

Meanwhile we have gotten rid of expiry dates here in the UK. And I have bought fruits and vegetables that all look fine on the outside but inside are rotten. Not only frustrating this then wastes my time and my money. Items do need expiry dates, sugar does not, fresh produce and vegetables do. However, educating that your food isn't instantly bad when it's gone pass would encourage people to waste less food.

tbf I've never seen expiration dates on fresh produce in the US. Maybe some packaged salads and things (and it's never accurate, of course), but nothing fresh.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#27

Post by bko »

ihumanable wrote: post #20
bko wrote: post #15

You know who hates food waste more than Gavin Newsom? Every greedy supermarket market executive that throws away 30% of their inventory. Especially when their profit margins are often in the low single digits. The article says there is no mandates on any types of dates. So I imagine these dates serve some purpose, otherwise they wouldn't be there. Laws like this often sound like they're helping but since no one is fo…

Seems like the food producer would have a clear incentive to mark their products with sell by dates. If I’m making a food product for sale at retail and I can mark it “sell by” some date, consumers get confused and think it’s no good after that date, the store that buys my food product will not want to keep it on the shelf because consumers won’t buy it. The retailer has to discard the perfectly fine item and reorder…

I think you can come up with a lot of scenarios in which any one person is happy or not happy. But in complicated systems, it's impossible to know exactly and you have to rely on market forces to work these things out. The problem is people coming in without any humility and trying to tinker with the system and getting shocked when there is unexpected consequences.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#28

Post by extraduder_ire »

doublerabbit wrote: post #18
LeFantome wrote: post #11

This all makes massive sense to me. The people in my life treat any date on food as an expiry date and throw out massive amounts of perfectly edible food. Also, people do not seem to have any concept about the rate at which different food products spoil. Some things can be used way past the dates I see. Others really are going off by then.

Meanwhile we have gotten rid of expiry dates here in the UK. And I have bought fruits and vegetables that all look fine on the outside but inside are rotten. Not only frustrating this then wastes my time and my money. Items do need expiry dates, sugar does not, fresh produce and vegetables do. However, educating that your food isn't instantly bad when it's gone pass would encourage people to waste less food.

I think a packaging or production date would help this without causing people to throw out unspoiled food. (once they realize it's not an expiry date)

I am not sure I buy it for fruit/vegetables though, since those are often sold unpackaged and unlabelled already.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#29

Post by BenjiWiebe »

0cf8612b2e1e wrote: post #17
kaikai wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I worked in a grocery coop and it depended on the vendor. For some, they controlled how much stock we carried and would take back anything that didn’t sell. For things that we ordered directly and chose how much to carry, we were responsible for expired food costs.

This is something I have idly wondered. Where does the expired food go? Both “literally rotting” and “canned good safe for a decade, but we toss it after 12 months”. Landfill? Animal feed? Some amount of charity for the salvageable items? A typical grocery store could produce an incredible amount of daily waste.

When I volunteered at a soup kitchen in Newfoundland, we got in just/nearly expired food fairly regularly. Some got used, some (fresh stuff) got frozen, some got tossed.

Definitely a large amount of it went to perfectly fine meals. The cook was very skilled at making good meals with an odd selection of ingredients.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#30

Post by ntlk »

bko wrote: post #15

You know who hates food waste more than Gavin Newsom? Every greedy supermarket market executive that throws away 30% of their inventory. Especially when their profit margins are often in the low single digits. The article says there is no mandates on any types of dates. So I imagine these dates serve some purpose, otherwise they wouldn't be there. Laws like this often sound like they're helping but since no one is fo…

Not sure whether it was the removal of best before dates or Brexit, but fresh food and veg in Britain is often already rotting in supermarkets. So now instead of the store throwing out loads of produce past its best, I have to do it when I get home and realise that yet again one in each pack of 3 onions is rotted.
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