If consumers have evolved a practice of treating printed “best before” dates as “unsafe after” dates, should the food industry instead be encouraged to print dates that more closely correspond to that evolved expectation?
Since the 1970s, consumers have relied on date labels as indicators of food safety and freshness, often unaware of the commercial significance behind these labels. This misunderstanding has inadvertently contributed to significant food waste, as edible products are discarded based on perceived safety concerns. In response, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has introduced regulatory guidance advocating for a simplified approach—using the label “best if used by.” The goal is to reduce ambiguity and minimize unnecessary food waste. In this assignment, we will explore the complexities of this decision, weighing the importance of food safety against the urgent need to combat food waste, and evaluating the potential impact of this labeling change on consumer behavior and the environment.
Before you begin, be sure to review the following case study:
Food product date labeling that is intelligible to consumers emerged in the United States in the 1970s amid concerns about food safety and freshness. That history is important because food safety and freshness continue to be the lens through which consumers interpret any date printed on food packaging, whether or not its significance is safety or freshness related. One of the fallouts of this is that date labels whose significance is mainly commercial (e.g., “sell by”) encourage consumers to throw away and waste food that is edible and poses no inherent safety risk.
In an attempt to reduce food waste, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS) has issued regulatory guidance encouraging the use of a single date label—“best if used by”—in place of “sell by,” “use by,” “use before,” “best before,” and other phrases currently in use on food packaging. FSIS claims that the current array of labels is less clear to consumers and is thus likely treated as if they were really “unsafe after” dates, leading to food waste when consumers throw food out unnecessarily. On the other hand, consumers tend to interpret correctly the meaning of “best if used by” and are less likely to throw away—and waste—perfectly safe food.
Read the text and answer the questions:
1. If consumers have evolved a practice of treating printed “best before” dates as “unsafe after” dates, should the food industry instead be encouraged to print dates that more closely correspond to that evolved expectation?
2. Should the FSIS, whose name suggests consumer safety as its mission, be a mechanism for achieving environmental sustainability-focused goals?
3. Consumer-readable sell-by dating replaced an older system of symbols or numbers whose meaning was understood only by the retailer. It was replaced by consumer-readable date labels to achieve increased consumer transparency. How should conflicts between demands for consumer transparency and the policy objective of reducing food waste be decided?
Please answer the questions thoroughly.
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