Ross: Do you follow the expiration date on your food?
May 28, 2019, 8:43 AM | Updated: 10:15 am
From what I hear on the news, too many of you are wasting food.
One report stated: “According to a new study, a third of all food worldwide is thrown out before it can be consumed.”
And it is thrown out for stupid reasons: “Food is often thrown away by retailers for aesthetic reasons – too ugly to sell.”
Ridiculous, right?
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And the other food waster is age discrimination – due to confusing date stamps.
Another radio report told me, “Not only are they confusing, the government says they end up causing people waste a lot of food that’s still safe to eat.”
But I have the opposite problem. If I buy it, I eat it. The other night I found a forgotten head of withered lettuce. Did I throw it out? No! I put it in a jar with water, covered it with a plastic bag, stuck it back in the refrigerator. In three days it was ready to dance into the salad bowl.
We also had a can of beans which said “Use by May 2011.” Now don’t you do this, but I opened it up, crushed in some garlic, and it was delicious … OK, it was fine … I was back at work within a week.
The FDA thinks it has the answer. It aims to standardize those expiration labels with one simple “Best if used by” stamp.
But how is that going to help? People are still going to throw it away by the best-if-used-by date. What you need is a label that says “Fatal if used after.” Then you’ll save some serious food.
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Tune in to KIRO Newsradio weekdays at 5am for Dave Ross on Seattle's Morning News.
