A simple way to cut food waste

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/07/2023 (1047 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Canada, it has often been said, is a land of plenty. Ours is a country replete with fertile farmlands, abundant agricultural production, well-stocked supermarkets and readily accessible restaurants.

Like all countries blessed by bounty, Canada still has far too many whose daily experience is impacted by poverty and food insecurity. But the societal conditions that contribute to such relentless and chronically underserved need are not a result of a lack of available food.

In overall terms, we produce a lot. And we consume a lot. And one of the lamentable offshoots of this plentiful position is that we, as Canadians, waste an awful, shameful amount of food.

This country’s population creates more than 50 million tonnes of food waste every year; of that, 60 per cent could be avoided through better planning and awareness. According to the UN Food Waste index, the average Canadian household creates 79 kilograms of food waste annually.

Nearly half — 47 per cent, to be precise — of food waste in Canada is created at the individual household level.

It’s against this dire demographic backdrop that a House of Commons committee on agriculture and agri-food has issued a report that includes a call for a serious re-examination of the role best-before dates on food packaging play in Canada’s chronic wasting of perfectly safe and edible food.

Simply put, Canadians generally do not understand what those best-before dates mean; as a result of that misunderstanding, many are inclined to toss out food for which the best-before date has been reached, despite the fact the date in question is not intended to indicate the product is unsafe or otherwise unfit for consumption.

“There’s a lot of confusion around what food labels mean,” said University of Guelph Prof. Kate Parizeau, an expert on the issue of food waste. “A lot of people think that best-before dates are expiry dates, when there are actually very few products in Canada that have a proper expiry date.”

Best-before dates are typically applied to products with an expected shelf life of 90 days or less; the date in question is intended to indicate the food is past its peak freshness. In nearly every case, the product remains fully consumable for some time after the emblazoned date has passed.

In general terms, the only products with actual expiry dates would be those with a specific nutritional component that could diminish over time, such as baby formula or liquid diet products.

Food-security advocates, including the head of Second Harvest Canada, have argued food waste related to misinterpretation of best-before dates results in perfectly good food being thrown out. In some cases, that food could instead have been redirected to those in need.

In a supply-and-demand economy, food waste puts pressure on the system and contributes to higher prices at the checkout. At a time when rising inflation is making food unaffordable for more and more Canadians, a better understanding of food safety and what is and isn’t edible could contribute greatly to addressing food insecurity.

Getting rid of best-before dates completely — as some observers have demanded — might be a tough sell. A 2022 survey indicated more than 60 per cent of Canadians either oppose or strongly oppose doing away with the stamped-on dates, so their outright removal might be met with suspicion rather than relief.

What’s required, instead, is the aforementioned re-examination of best-before dates’ application and intent, combined with deliberate measures by governments and the agri-food industry to better educate the public about food labelling, food safety and best-before dates in whatever form they continue to be employed.