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>It will require the use of “Best if Used By” label to signal peak quality and “Use By” label for product safety Who are these people that were confused by "Be

>It will require the use of “Best if Used By” label to signal peak quality and “Use By” label for product safety Who are these people that were confused by "Best by" but understand "best if used by"?

adamredwoods 2y ago
The same ones that began the meat safe handling instructions (1994), maybe? https://www.meattrack.com/labeling/history/ https://www.meattrack.com/labeling/history/
audunw 2y ago
I think they should have used the labels we’re using here in Norway. I find them very clear: - “Last consumption date” (maybe not safe to eat after this date) - “Best before” - these days they sometimes also add “.. but often good after”
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  What you said is basically the law, except that the often good after part would be illegal
devonbleak 2y ago
It's not about confusion/clarification it's about legal definition. Currently, because there's no legal definition around it, companies can throw any arbitrary date on a "best by" label on a product. And what we've found is that it's being abused as an artificially short faux expiration date to drive consumers to discard the still-fine-to-consume product and buy another one. This is good for the company who increase their sales but bad for pretty much everybody else because it increases food waste and the energy/resources that were consumed to create it.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  They still can. There is no definition and it is at the manufacturers discretion. The law changed absolutely nothing about how best by dates are determined, just the wording. The law literally is about the wording.
Suppafly 2y ago
>Who are these people that were confused by "Best by" but understand "best if used by"? Probably the people who have noticed that they aren't used consistently to mean the same thing between brands or even between skus within the same brand.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  Which is a inconsistency that has nothing to do with this law. Now the words are the same, but still determined completely arbitrarily.
  - Suppafly 2y ago
    >Now the words are the same, but still determined completely arbitrarily. That's the point it's not arbitrary under the new law. 'Best by' will mean peak quality and 'use by' will mean the last date safety is guaranteed. Previously 'best by' had no relationship to quality and was just a made up date to convince people their items were spoiling faster than they were. I suppose 'peak quality' for the best by date might feel arbitrary, but at least will need to be somewhat justified now. I understand that the linked article is paywalled, but it's pretty easy to find other sources that aren't by googling words from the headline.
    - s1artibartfast 2y ago
      My information comes from reading the law. It is shorter than the article. Companies can put a Best by date of whatever they want on the product. They can pull it out of their butt, absolutely no justification required. They don't have to include a safety used by date, unless they already did. Literally the only thing that changed is the wording allowed if you choose to label with a Best by date. I link the actual law ab660 elsewhere in this thread if you want to look at it. I think it's wild how much misinformation and confusion there is about this minor change. I blame this on the legislature trying to hype up their nothing law into some major achievement, and news agencies shamelessly trying to make a story out of it.

adamredwoods 2y ago

The same ones that began the meat safe handling instructions (1994), maybe? https://www.meattrack.com/labeling/history/ https://www.meattrack.com/labeling/history/

audunw 2y ago

I think they should have used the labels we’re using here in Norway. I find them very clear: - “Last consumption date” (maybe not safe to eat after this date) - “Best before” - these days they sometimes also add “.. but often good after”

s1artibartfast 2y ago
What you said is basically the law, except that the often good after part would be illegal

devonbleak 2y ago

It's not about confusion/clarification it's about legal definition. Currently, because there's no legal definition around it, companies can throw any arbitrary date on a "best by" label on a product. And what we've found is that it's being abused as an artificially short faux expiration date to drive consumers to discard the still-fine-to-consume product and buy another one. This is good for the company who increase their sales but bad for pretty much everybody else because it increases food waste and the energy/resources that were consumed to create it.

s1artibartfast 2y ago
They still can. There is no definition and it is at the manufacturers discretion. The law changed absolutely nothing about how best by dates are determined, just the wording. The law literally is about the wording.

Suppafly 2y ago

>Who are these people that were confused by "Best by" but understand "best if used by"? Probably the people who have noticed that they aren't used consistently to mean the same thing between brands or even between skus within the same brand.

s1artibartfast 2y ago
Which is a inconsistency that has nothing to do with this law. Now the words are the same, but still determined completely arbitrarily.
- Suppafly 2y ago
  >Now the words are the same, but still determined completely arbitrarily. That's the point it's not arbitrary under the new law. 'Best by' will mean peak quality and 'use by' will mean the last date safety is guaranteed. Previously 'best by' had no relationship to quality and was just a made up date to convince people their items were spoiling faster than they were. I suppose 'peak quality' for the best by date might feel arbitrary, but at least will need to be somewhat justified now. I understand that the linked article is paywalled, but it's pretty easy to find other sources that aren't by googling words from the headline.
  - s1artibartfast 2y ago
    My information comes from reading the law. It is shorter than the article. Companies can put a Best by date of whatever they want on the product. They can pull it out of their butt, absolutely no justification required. They don't have to include a safety used by date, unless they already did. Literally the only thing that changed is the wording allowed if you choose to label with a Best by date. I link the actual law ab660 elsewhere in this thread if you want to look at it. I think it's wild how much misinformation and confusion there is about this minor change. I blame this on the legislature trying to hype up their nothing law into some major achievement, and news agencies shamelessly trying to make a story out of it.