Food expiration labels with words like "best by," "sell by" and "use by" are cause for confusion for many Californians.
In response to this confusion, Governor Newsom signed a new bill into law, limiting labels to say only "best if used by" or "use by."
Until the law takes effect July 2026, multiple labels will remain in use.
Food pantries like Atascadero Loaves and Fishes rely on these labels to sort their food every day.
David Pearl, a volunteer with ALF, encounters dozens of labels during his time at the food pantry. He has learned to read these labels closely when shopping for his family.
"When I'm thinking about my children, my children's children, I want to be certain that we're giving them stuff that's safe to eat and the labels give us some guidelines to do that," said Pearl.
Kathy Bennett, volunteer lead at the food pantry, said these labels can be especially confusing for volunteers trying to sort various kinds of food with multiple labels.
"There is some confusion...between a best by date, a use by date, just a regular date on something. And we do have guidelines for them to follow for that," said Bennett.
Those guidelines, provided by the SLO Food Bank and based on standards set by the USDA, indicate the expected shelf life of various foods.
While milk or meat might not keep longer than the date marked on the label, these guidelines may indicate a longer shelf life for staples like cereal or canned goods.
"The last thing we want to do is throw away perfectly good food. So the volunteers take the time to check the dates," said Bennett.
If you'd like to check the shelf life of your food, you can download The USDA FoodKeeper app.
