RetroFed
California bans ‘sell by’ food labels to cut food waste and confusion
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https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/01/health/california-sell-by-labels
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This is a good change that improves labeling for customers.
And exactly the same we have here in Denmark.
I think this brings it in line with most of the developed world. Although in Australia we don’t have ‘best if used by’ just ‘best before’ / ‘expiry date’ mandated by law for most products. I think some dried and canned foods that have a shelf life greater than 3 years are exempt and usually have a processing date / date packaged instead.
We may have a similar rule I didn’t know about, I just checked our cans and glasses of pickled things, and they all have expiration dates. But pure sugar does not, it doesn’t even have a production date?!?! So I looked it up, and it’s literally stated by the manufacturer to have near infinite shelf life, making them exempt so they don’t have to label the dates.
MFW pickled things have expiry dates. Missing the point of pickling there buddy. But there is a point where things go a bit funny looking, which is why they often have a “best before”. The food is still okay to eat, just not at it’s “best”.
For things like bottled water or canned or pickled food the “best before” date is more like a “at this point the package starts to degrade”.
For example pickled cucumber that are sold in jars start to degrade faster as soon as the jar lid starts to rust or the rubber coating looses its silkiness.
Or canned food: at some time, the metal starts to react with acidic ingredients and dissolve into the food and spoils it.
Good point. It bummed me out to learn that the majority of canned goods are also lined with plastic.. And glass jar lids also have plastic or silicone. Likewise that older / lower quality cans/lids have been manufactured with BPA, so it’s hard to avoid plastics in packaging no matter your choice.
Quality of pickled foods can drop off over time. Plenty of fermented red sauces (colored red because of peppers or tomatoes) will turn brown over time from oxidation, which also dulls the flavors. Also, lots of pickled products are jarred still crisp but will degrade into mushy/soft textures over time.
Korean cooks have systems for how fresh kimchi should be for different dishes, as the fermentation continues even after putting it into jars. Newer kimchi is good as a dish on the table, older kimchi is good as an ingredient in stews or other things like that.
Hell, even wine keeps changing in the bottle, and can start tasting bad from being aged too long.
So there’s still benefit in labeling dates, so that consumers can understand how time affects quality.
Thank you for explaining exactly how and why mostly “best before” dates are appropriate for mass-produced pickled goods. “Best Before” is a quality mark, not a food safety mark. A dodgy looking old pickle is unlikely to kill you but it might not look the best or taste as be good as it should.
Homemade stuff, like kimchi rotation, is learnt through experience, so a “production date” might be more appropriate for writing on the jar.
I bet most pickled products can last years beyond what’s labeled.
But IDK, we never get anywhere close to that. Because the real issue is after it’s been opened, which is generally also written on the label if you care to read it.
It’s also nice that we don’t have to eat funny looking food, because eating funny looking food can very quickly become not so funny.
“Discard after” or “do not consume after”would be better for actual food safety, much more direct and literal. But there are plenty of times I’ve eaten something after the “use by” date - not a long time after, but the food was still good.
The problem is that you cannot guarantee a date for which something may go bad. It would end up still being a freshness date, because you can guarantee that. Semantics, I know, but could you imagine someone suing because a can of tuna was still edible despite its “do not consume” date?
People will sue for any reason.
But that was kinda my point, I understand that food can be good past a “use by”. But if people want to make it literally about safety there should be a “do not consume” date.
But that isn’t safe, you understand that no? If we are being reasonable, I get what you’re saying, but the end result would just be the same date with another name. The “use by” is a fail-safe. Now whether or not those dates are too conservative is up to interpretation (especially after leaving controlled environments).
Unless you really are implying that a 50 yr old can of processed meat recalls because it only lasted 49 years due to a defect and won’t hit it’s “do not consume” date. That’s not realistic at all. Some stuff can last very, very long times under perfect conditions. Stuff like honey and butter would never spoil. But to imply any of these items would still be safe (even after said perfect conditions) introduces a fail-unsafe situation.
On the other hand, I sympathize with the idea of reducing food waste. But there are other ways to tackle that - like donating food to shelters and such when it is still safe to eat. But that’s a different agenda entirely.
I’d like to have a label that detects if the food is still good. That would be nice.
Now if only the consumers could read
The industry gets a lot of leeway with “phrasing”. Most people don’t know that “best by” and “used by” was two different things.
If you have to trick people, then it should be illegal.
I’ve had to study this in depth, and the majority of “best by” dates are meaningless trash invented by the company. That suggest “maximum freshness and flavor!” A totally subjective measure.
Do you really trust PepsiCo / FritoLay to put dates on chips that give you the last possible time to eat the product? Or dates that nudge you to eat product faster?
I trust the ones I was required to put on meats and bakery items when I worked a grocery position. Those were always pretty accurate to when something would start to rot unless they were frozen before that date.
Yah, that’s entirely different. Obviously there’s an interest in not selling spoiled food and making people sick. As opposed to processed foods where the Best By date is a manufacturer decision.
Now make them make the date printed on bread legible. I hate it when the printer is misaligned so the date goes completely off the loaf, or when it’s black text on a black background.
It would be nice to see better oversight on these things.
Thank goodness. I always wanted to buy stale chips and bread that starts getting mold on it a few days after I buy it.