California's restrictions on the wording of dates on food products was signed into law by the governor, making it illegal to stamp "sell by" dates where consumers might see them. The problem is simple: such dates are misleading and encourage waste and repurchase.
Dr. Bradley Rickard, a professor of food and agricultural economics at Cornell University with published research on the relationship between date labels and food waste, elaborated on the impact this confusion can have, telling Food & Winethat "some people will see the sell-by date and will assume this means something about food safety, and will then throw the item out even though there [are] unlikely any food safety concerns for many foods for a reasonable amount of time after the sell-by date."
Switching to language that either says "Best if Used By" or "Use By" will also help minimize ambiguity. The former will establish consistent wording for advising when an item is less fresh (but still okay to eat), while the latter designates food that should no longer be consumed due to safety concerns.
"Best before" dates are not the target of the law, but they too are often lies. They put a "best before" date on salt. Most canned or sealed foods bought now will be good for many years past the date stamped on them—though a very old (esp. pre-1995) can chanced across might be dangerous due to inappropriate materials used in the past.
