The Zero Food Waste Coalition submitted a comment in response to USDA and FDA’s joint Request for Information on food date labeling. ZFWC, along with other advocates, has long supported federal standardization of food date labels, which it believes would help reduce the $22 billion in food waste caused by inconsistent date labels.

The Coalition’s comment highlighted issues with current state-by-state regulations, which lead to confusion for consumers, hinder food donations, and create supply chain inefficiencies. ZFWC also emphasized on the benefits of standardizing labels, such as cost savings for consumers and reduced economic losses for businesses.

They encourage their members and others to submit their own comments and is optimistic about future improvements around food date labeling.