--- title: Food Waste: USDA Proposes New Label to Save Food description: The USDA has asked meat and dairy companies to label their products with a "best if used by" date rather than confusing alternatives canonical: https://time.com/4603221/usda-food-expiration-date-labels/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-15T13:03:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T02:19:03.469Z article:section: Health og:title: U.S. to Food Companies: Your Expiration Date Labels Are Too Confusing og:description: A call to stick with "best if used by" og:url: https://time.com/4603221/usda-food-expiration-date-labels/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1ecf7d625341730/6988b30cf887dc1efae9881f/egg-use-by-date.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: egg with expiration date og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: U.S. to Food Companies: Your Expiration Date Labels Are Too Confusing twitter:description: A call to stick with "best if used by" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1ecf7d625341730/6988b30cf887dc1efae9881f/egg-use-by-date.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # U.S. to Food Companies: Your Expiration Date Labels Are Too Confusing  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 15, 2016 1:03 PM UTC  single egg in bowl with expiration date single egg in bowl with expiration dateGetty Images  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Dec 15, 2016 1:03 PM UTC The U.S. Department of Agriculture has [asked](https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/bestifusedby.pdf) meat and dairy companies to label their products with a “best if used by” date rather than a slew of alternatives that the agency says are confusing. The USDA says the recommendation, which comes in the form of a Food Safety and Inspection Service guidance issued Wednesday, is an attempt to cut down on [food waste](http://time.com/4037087/food-waste-united-states/). Nearly a third of the U.S. food supply is [wasted](http://time.com/4252941/united-states-food-waste-cuts/) by retailers or customers annually, often because consumers do not understand the labels, according to the agency. “Research shows that this phrase conveys to consumers that the product will be of best quality if used by the calendar date shown,” the guidance reads. The guidance is just a recommendation and food providers do not need to follow it. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4603221/usda-food-expiration-date-labels/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4603221/usda-food-expiration-date-labels/"},"headline":"U.S. to Food Companies: Your Expiration Date Labels Are Too Confusing","datePublished":"2016-12-15T13:03:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T02:19:03.469Z","description":"A call to stick with \"best if used by\"","url":"https://time.com/4603221/usda-food-expiration-date-labels/","keywords":["Food","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1ecf7d625341730/6988b30cf887dc1efae9881f/egg-use-by-date.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1ecf7d625341730/6988b30cf887dc1efae9881f/egg-use-by-date.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"egg with expiration date","caption":"egg with expiration date","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4603221/usda-food-expiration-date-labels/","name":"U.S. to Food Companies: Your Expiration Date Labels Are Too Confusing"}}]}] ```