The US Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture are taking another look at food date labels, namely at how they’re used by food producers and manufacturers and interpreted by consumers.

Last week, the FDA and USDA issued a joint request for information on food date labeling, with a focus on terms such as “sell by,” “use by” and “best by.” The agencies seek more information on industry practices and preferences for date labeling, research on consumer perceptions of date labeling and whether date labels impact food waste and grocery costs.

Currently, both the FDA and USDA recommend, on a voluntary basis, that the food industry use the term “Best if Used By,” which they described as a quality-based food date label because it indicates the date after which quality may decline but the product may still be consumed. Current federal regulations, however, don’t prevent the industry from using other date labels such as “sell by” or “use by” if they are “truthful and not misleading,” the agencies noted.

“It has been estimated that confusion over the multitude of different date labeling terms on food products accounts for about 20% of food waste in the home,” said Jim Jones, deputy commissioner for human foods at the FDA. “The information collected will help us understand consumers’ perception of terms like ‘sell by,’ ‘use by’ and ‘best by.’ We are looking forward to gathering valuable information to determine how date labeling can make it easier for consumers to know whether a food is still good to eat and avoid food waste. The FDA is committed to doing all that we can to support informed and sound decisions that are good for US consumers.”

Food date labeling has been debated for years as regulators and food industry stakeholders try to find the right phrasing to indicate when a product’s quality begins to wane as well as the time frame when it can safely be eaten.

The FDA and USDA’s RFI includes questions for industry players on which products contain date labels and what criteria are used to determine the date and terms in the label. On the consumer side, the RFI asks about how consumers comprehend date label information — particularly if they think the dates show the food is safe when they actually indicate quality — and if labels affect decisions in shopping for or discarding food.

Information gathered from the RFI may be used for future policy decisions, guidance or consumer education campaigns on food date labels to help reduce “the premature discard of wholesome and safe food,” the FDA and USDA said.

“Food labels contain a wealth of information for consumers, including a food product’s ‘best if used by’ date,” said Emilio Esteban, undersecretary for food safety at USDA. “Through this request for information, we hope to learn more about how those date labels are determined and whether they confuse consumers and lead to needless food waste.”

The RFI, in part, comes in response to the National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics, released by the FDA, USDA and Environmental Protection Agency in June 2024. The USDA estimates that the average family of four spends at least $1,500 each year on food that ends up uneaten. In addition, the EPA estimated that the food retail, foodservice and residential sector in 2019 generated 66 million tons of food waste, about 60% of which went to landfills. The National Strategy aims to halve food loss and waste by 2030 to reduce the environmental impact of food waste and cut costs for US families.