As awareness grows about food waste, the culprit

As awareness grows around the world about the problem of food waste, one culprit in particular is drawing scrutiny: best before labels.

The labels have been used by manufacturers for decades to estimate peak freshness. Labels on perishable food like meat and dairy have nothing to do with safety and may encourage consumers to throw away food that is fine to eat, unlike use by labels that are found on perishable foods like meat and dairy.

They read these dates and then they assume that it is bad, they can't eat it and they toss it, because these dates don't mean that they are not edible or they are not still nutritious or tasty, said Patty Apple, a manager at Food Shift, a non-profit that collects and uses expired or imperfect foods in Alameda, California.

To address the problem, major UK chains like Waitrose, Sainsbury s and Marks Spencer recently removed best before labels from prepackaged fruit and vegetables. The European Union is expected to announce a revamp of its labeling laws by the end of the year, and it is considering abolishing best before labels altogether.

There is no similar push to scrap best before labels in the United States. There is growing momentum to standardize the language on date labels to help educate buyers about food waste, including a push from big grocers and food companies and bipartisan legislation in Congress.