California has banned “sell by” dates in most food items, owing to the fact that there is no actual meaning of the phrase legally speaking, and that ambitious sell-by dates are considered to be a contributing cause of food waste. Manufacturers must now use either “best if used by” labels to describe peak quality or “use by” labels for product safety, disambiguating a term that has generally been in the eye — and the intestinal fortitude — of the beholder. The only product regulated at the federal level with a date label is infant formula, with a 2022 study from the University of Maryland finding over 50 different date labels on packaged food sold in stores. The “sell by” stamp is, according to the FDA, responsible for 20 percent of the nation’s food waste, which in California would mean six million tons of unexpired food sent to the dump annually.
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