More than 80 percent of Americans discard perfectly good, consumable food simply because they misunderstand expiration labels. Labels like sell by, use by, expires on, best before or best by are confusing to people and in an effort to not risk the potential of a foodborne illness, theyll toss it in the garbage.
More than 80 percent of Americans discard perfectly good food because they misunderstand expiration labels.
Compared to the rest of the world, food in the United States is plentiful and less costly, and often this contributes to a general sentiment of not appreciating or valuing it the way other communities around the globe do. Americans are often impulsive in their food purchases, unrealistically assessing how much food is required, and as a result buying more food than they need or buying food they wont actually eat. Our take-out society doesnt use food in its entirety the way our ancestors used to. We underutilize leftovers and toss food scraps that can still be consumed or composted. Composting isnt part of our food-prep routine, so we continue to add fuel to the fire in increasing the sheer size of US landfills. . . . . .