California outlaws 'sell by,' betting clearer labels will shrink food waste
California is barring the phrase 'sell by' from consumer food packaging, pushing every product toward two standard lines: 'BEST if Used By' for quality and 'USE By' for safety.
The phrase 'sell by' was never meant for shoppers; it tells a store when to rotate stock, yet shoppers read it as an expiration date and toss good food.
California's fix standardizes the wording. The thread's asterisk: stores can keep 'sell by' dates if they're coded for staff, so a shopper may lose the one clue that stock is old.
Several call it a near-nothing law. A small clarity gain, at best.
One confusing phrase, swapped for two clear ones
The New York Times report wouldn't load from here, so this draws on the thread and the bill's history. California is barring the phrase 'sell by' from consumer food labels. In its place the state standardizes on two lines: 'BEST if Used By' for quality and 'USE By' for safety. The stated goal is less food waste, because shoppers routinely read 'sell by' as a spoilage date and bin edible groceries.
The bill is not new; readers noted it passed back in 2024. What changes now is the wording manufacturers may print.
Read the fine print: 'sell by' can still hide on the box
The asterisk that reframes the law: the ban is on the human-readable phrase, not the underlying date. A retired software engineer flagged the loophole.
"Under the state's bill, 'sell by' dates can still be included on products as long as they are 'coded' … Then if the grocery store forgets to replace old stock, you will never know." — retired engineer skybrian
So the reform removes a label shoppers misread and, in the same stroke, can remove a label some shoppers relied on. Others in the thread landed on 'small but fine.'
"This is a pretty nothing law when you look into it. All it does is standardize 'sell by' labels to be more transparent." — blululu, weighing the bill
A meat-counter skeptic wanted the opposite of vaguer dates, arguing that 'Packed On' or 'Processed On' is the only honest label because everything else buries the day the food was actually cut. The through-line: standardizing words is easy; telling a customer when food truly goes bad is the part no label has solved.
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