Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

California first state to ban 'sell by' 'best before' label to reduce food waste

fortune.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–66 of 66 posts

Re: California first state to ban 'sell by' 'best before' label to reduce food waste

#61

Post by mrweiner »

bofadeez wrote: post #59
mrweiner wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You waste too much. You have no information about how much waste they produce. > What other people do is not your business. We cant comment that grocery stores throw out too much food because it’s not our business?

You can't comment on what sovereign individuals, who have no voluntary contractual obligation to you, do with their private property. That's because you have no ownership over their physical flesh. They own 100% of their body.

A grocery store is not a person. And besides that, laws and regulations exist specifically to restrict what people are able to do. Nobody is entirely sovereign. Sure, if you discover an island and you decide to live there, maybe you’re sovereign and can act however you want. But we live in a collective. That’s just the way it works.

Re: California first state to ban 'sell by' 'best before' label to reduce food waste

#62

Post by bofadeez »

mrweiner wrote: post #61
bofadeez wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can't comment on what sovereign individuals, who have no voluntary contractual obligation to you, do with their private property. That's because you have no ownership over their physical flesh. They own 100% of their body.

A grocery store is not a person. And besides that, laws and regulations exist specifically to restrict what people are able to do. Nobody is entirely sovereign. Sure, if you discover an island and you decide to live there, maybe you’re sovereign and can act however you want. But we live in a collective. That’s just the way it works.

These rights are inalienable. They are not derived by permission from a collective.

Re: California first state to ban 'sell by' 'best before' label to reduce food waste

#63

Post by mrweiner »

bofadeez wrote: post #62
mrweiner wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A grocery store is not a person. And besides that, laws and regulations exist specifically to restrict what people are able to do. Nobody is entirely sovereign. Sure, if you discover an island and you decide to live there, maybe you’re sovereign and can act however you want. But we live in a collective. That’s just the way it works.

These rights are inalienable. They are not derived by permission from a collective.

Which rights? The right to build a tall fence in your yard? To install electrical in a house however you please? Expose your genitals in public?

Re: California first state to ban 'sell by' 'best before' label to reduce food waste

#64

Post by rramadass »

JamesBarney wrote: post #45
rramadass wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might find this documentary interesting - https://www.divethefilm.com/ As a person who grew up (and currently live) in India and who spent a decade-and-half in the US, to see the amount of perfectly good food thrown away in the developed world is infuriating and morally inexcusable.

Food waste isn't a problem. If the US threw out 20% less food all the same countries would struggle with food security and hunger. If the US consumed less food, less would be grown. It wouldn't change the price of rice or wheat in India. Almost all the food imported from the US to India for instance is consumed by the middle class such as tree nuts (almonds) and are not staple foods consumed by those struggling to ea…

You misunderstood my comment.

I just used the US and India as examples of the developed world and developing world with which i have personal experience to assert that much much more food is wasted in the former than in the latter. It is not about sending food from one to the other but managing it more effectively when you have people desperately needing it in their own countries (eg. Charities/NGOs, Homeless Shelters, Low-Income groups, Schools etc.). It is well-known that in the developed world the economically impoverished cannot afford healthy food and thus rely on cheap junk-food with the consequence that they suffer more from Poor Health/Obesity/etc. which leads to an unmanageable pressure on the healthcare system and a downward spiral in overall economic output. Everybody suffers as a result.

The above linked documentary is pretty good about highlighting the problem in the US. Also watch this documentary Waging a Living to understand how tough life is for the economically underprivileged in the US - https://www.pbs.org/pov/films/wagingaliving/

Finally note that in 2016 France became the first country to outlaw food wastage by supermarkets which should be adopted by all other countries. See https://zerowasteeurope.eu/library/france-law-for-fighting-f... and https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/is-frances-groundbreaking-...

Re: California first state to ban 'sell by' 'best before' label to reduce food waste

#65

Post by bofadeez »

mrweiner wrote: post #63
bofadeez wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These rights are inalienable. They are not derived by permission from a collective.

Which rights? The right to build a tall fence in your yard? To install electrical in a house however you please? Expose your genitals in public?

The right of self ownership. You are not entitled to control the flesh of another person.

Re: California first state to ban 'sell by' 'best before' label to reduce food waste

#66

Post by m463 »

Leherenn wrote: post #36
candiddevmike wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think this will lead to some kind of price decay scheme based on freshness? I occasionally see something like but nothing regular enough to plan shopping around buying almost expired products.

It happens here in Switzerland. There's even an app where you reserve a "mystery" bag, you go right before the shop closes (which is usually 6 or 7pm) and you get a random assortment based on what's about to expire at a massively reduced price (like 1/3). Of course you cannot really rely on it if you have a specific meal in mind, but it's pretty good as an add-on, and it makes you try things you wouldn't usually buy.

I think there's an app in the US like that, too good to go.
Post reply on HN