In 2013, the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic and the Natural Resources Defense Council published a report, "The Dating Game," that tied food waste to date labels, and revealed that the dates are not federally regulated and do not indicate food safety. The Food and Drug Administration, which has the power to regulate date labels, has chosen not to, precisely because they are not related to safety. Food scientists say that not a single food safety outbreak in the U.S. has been traced to a food being consumed past date. (What are outbreaks traced to? Generally, to pathogens that may have contaminated the food during processing, or to "temperature abuse" such as leaving raw chicken in a hot car, or to air exposure that encourages mold. These are not problems that date labels currently address.)



In the absence of federal labeling rules, states have stepped in. The variation in state laws is dramatic, providing further evidence that date labels are not related to safety. New York, for example, does not require dates on any food products. By contrast, Massachusetts requires dates on all perishable and semi-perishable foods and heavily restricts sale or donation after that date. A past-date carton of orange juice would be legal to sell in New York, but just across the border in Massachusetts the same, safe juice would generally wind up in the trash.



Milk is the product with the most inconsistent labeling, state to state. Milk sold in stores is generally pasteurized, a process that kills harmful pathogens and eliminates the risk of food-borne illness, even after the sell-by or use-by date. Although the modern industry standard for milk quality dating is 21 to 24 days after pasteurization (and again, milk will still be safe after that), some states impose much stricter time limitations. Montana, for example, requires that milk bear a date of 12 days after pasteurization. Even worse, Montana bans the sale or donation of milk after that date, which wastes countless gallons of good milk.