WASHINGTON, D.C., USA — Is your expired food actually expired?
Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree and Republican Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington introduced a bill Aug. 1 to reduce food waste by ending confusion around labeled expiration dates.
If passed, the Food Date Labeling Act would provide federal regulations to make it clear to Americans when their groceries are still safe to eat.
"Estimates indicate that around 90% of Americans prematurely throw out perfectly safe food, in part because of confusion about what date labels mean, meanwhile 38.4 million Americans are food insecure," Rep. Pingree said in a press release.
A big part of the problem according to both members of Congress, is state-regulated "Use By," and "Best if Used By," date labeling which can cause consumers to toss food before they need to.
Kristen Miale of Good Shepard Food Bank in Auburn said she supports Pingree in the effort to save food.
"With this piece of legislation, we can help ensure food is being used and eaten, rather than thrown out due to confusion," Pingree said.
