Harvard Study Finds Food Expiration Dates Confusing to Consumers
Americans throw out billions of pounds of food every year because they falsely believe "sell-by" and "best-before" dates on package labels indicate food safety, according to a study published by Harvard Law School and the Natural Resources Defense Council, New York.
The study found that dates printed on packaged foods, which help retailers cycle through stocked products and allow manufacturers to indicate when a product is at its peak freshness, are inconsistent and confuse consumers, leading many to throw out food before it actually goes bad.