Each week, more states are joining the movement to combat confusion over food labels and help prevent food waste. Officials in New Jersey are now taking steps to standardize and improve food date labels, hoping to prevent food waste and help families save money.
Congressman Josh Gottheimer, joined by food security advocates and nutritionists, announced earlier this week that changes would be made to food labels.
Gottheimer said that food manufacturers are too tight when it comes to expiration dates. Gottheimer is leading a bipartisan effort to standardize expiration dates across the country.
"Food manufacturers can pick a random date and game the system," Gottheimer said. "Not the actual date it goes bad."
"So many of us look at the date and get confused," Registered Dietitian April Milevski said. "We look at the date and throw it because we fear we might get sick."
"Thirty-eight percent of our food ends up in the garbage," said Sarah Elnakib with the Rutgers Climate Institute.
That food waste percentage equals about 160 billion pounds of waste, totaling roughly $218 billion of food a year.