Is the food in your fridge still good? California lawmakers want to help you get an answer. 

Check the label. It probably has a date on it. What else does the label say? “Best before”? “Sell by”? You might be even more confused than before! How can you tell if the food is safe to eat?

Many consumers aren’t sure. They end up throwing away perfectly safe food. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration blames this confusion for 20% of America’s food waste. In California, about 6 million tons of unexpired food gets tossed each year. That weighs about as much as the Great Pyramid of Giza! Imagine how many people you could feed with a whole pyramid of food.

In America, stores use more than 50 different food labels. Those labels often don’t explain anything about food safety. For example, “sell by” dates just tell stores when to pull products from shelves. They don’t say whether food is safe to eat.

California’s lawmakers hope new regulations will cut the confusion. Starting soon, California stores will use two standard labels. “Best if Used By” will signal peak quality. “Use By” will indicate food safety.

Has the “Best if Used By” date on that peanut butter already passed? You can still whip up a PB and J. It just might taste a bit less fresh. But has the “Use By” date gone by? Then you might want to chuck that chunky Peter Pan in the can.

California officials have tried to pass similar laws for years. In 2017, the governor approved a voluntary labeling system. But few companies followed it.

“Food waste rates are not decreasing, they’re increasing,” says Erica Parker. She works with a non-profit group called Californians Against Waste. This group sponsored the bill that became the new law.

Will new regulations help turn these wasteful ways around? Californians will find out in 2026, when the law takes effect.

And when they had eaten their fill, He told His disciples, “Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost.” — John 6:12