Reducing Food Waste - know your Food Safety

​What Date Labels Actually Mean
With the exception of baby formula, there are no federal regulations on date labeling. Often the "best if used by," "sell by," and "use by" designations are just a manufacturer's best guess about how long their food will taste its freshest. Supermarkets may also use the dates as a guide when stocking shelves. But the dates have little to do with how safe the food is.duce waste.

• Best If Used By/Before: This guarantees when a product is of the best quality or flavor. For instance, a jar of salsa may not taste as fresh or crackers may be soft instead of crisp after this date. It's not about safety.
• Sell By: This is the date set by manufacturers to tell retailers when to remove a product from shelves. The goal is to ensure that consumers have products at their best quality, which can be several days to several weeks, depending on the item. For instance, milk, assuming proper refrigeration, should last five to seven days past its sell-by date before turning sour.
• Use By: This is the last date that guarantees the best quality of a product. This is also not a safety date except when used on infant formula.

How to Avoid Waste

• Freeze it. Freezing is an excellent way to halt the aging process and extend the life of foods that might otherwise go bad or get thrown away.  Frozen foods won't go bad because bacteria and other pathogens can't grow in frozen temperatures. This even applies to milk, bread, cheese, and raw eggs (crack and lightly beat them first).
• Save that fruit. Fruit is one of the most common items to be tossed prematurely. Fruits like bruised apples, overripe bananas, and citrus like oranges and clementines that have dried up can be used in various recipes.
• Extend the life of produce. There are tricks for extending the shelf life of veggies, like wrapping broccoli in a damp paper towel, keeping celery in tinfoil instead of plastic, and putting asparagus in a glass with a half-inch of water.
• Organize your fridge. Studies have shown that out-of-sight foods are often forgotten, so keep the most perishable items up front on the highest shelves.
• Compost. Composting way-past-its-prime produce or packaged foods such as bread is a great way to recycle food without putting it in the landfill.

Staying Safe  
Nonperishable items like grains and dried and canned goods can still be used well past their label dates.  Meat, dairy, and eggs carry shorter shelf lives, but generally speaking one of the best way to know whether a perishable food has spoiled is simply to "trust your taste buds and sense of smell."  When in doubt, throw it out.
Foods past their prime often develop mold, bacteria, and yeast, causing them to give warning signs to your senses. Spoiled food will usually look different in texture and color, smell unpleasant, and taste bad before it becomes unsafe to eat.
Also, a good rule of thumb is to throw out a perishable item after 2 hours at room temperature or half that time if sitting out in the hot summer heat.
This year, an estimated 1 in 6 Americans will get sick from food poisoning. Find out what you can do to keep you and your family safe.

• Check your Steps: Following four simple steps – Clean, Separate, Cook, and Chill – can help protect your family from food poisoning at home.
• Keep Food Safe by Type of Food: Get the latest tips and techniques to keep specific foods safe and prevent food poisoning.
• Keep Food Safe by Type of Events and Seasons: Whether you're planning a small summer cookout or a big holiday celebration, a camping trip or a potluck dinner, you need to follow special precautions to ensure that you and your guests are safe from food poisoning.
• Food Safety in a Disaster or Emergency: Find out how to keep food safe during and after an emergency, such as a hurricane, flood, fire, or loss of power.
• FoodKeeper App: Use this app to help you use food while at peak quality and reduce waste.

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