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In a joint letter to congressional leaders, the Zero Food Waste Coalition (ZFWC) and the Consumer Brands Association (CBA) urged swift passage of the bipartisan Food Date Labeling Act of 2025, arguing that inconsistent and confusing date labels are fueling millions of tons of unnecessary food waste each year.
Addressed to leaders of the Senate and House committees overseeing health, agriculture, and commerce, the letter lays out a stark case. Research cited in the letter shows that confusion over date labels leads to an estimated 4.3 million tons of food waste annually in the United States, costing households and businesses more than $22 billion per year. More broadly, over 30% of all food in the U.S. goes unsold or uneaten, even as nearly one in seven American households experiences food insecurity.
The signatories point to a fragmented regulatory landscape as a key driver of the problem. With at least 47 different date label phrases currently in use across the country, many consumers misinterpret quality dates as safety warnings. According to national survey data referenced in the letter, 43% of consumers usually or always discard food based on the date label, and 88% do so at least occasionally. In most cases, however, those labels reflect a manufacturer’s estimate of peak quality, not food safety.
The Food Date Labeling Act of 2025 (H.R. 4987; S. 2541) would address this confusion through a voluntary, standardized two-label system. Companies choosing to include date labels would use either “BEST If Used By” to indicate quality or “USE By” to indicate safety. The bill also directs the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to coordinate consumer education and clarifies that food past a quality date may still be donated if it meets safety standards. By replacing the current patchwork of state laws with a consistent national framework, the proposal has drawn support from more than 30 companies and organizations, including major retailers, brands, technology platforms, and the US Composting Council.
Industry supporters argue that clarity at the label level can have systemwide impacts. “At Too Good To Go, we see every day how confusion around date labels can lead to the unnecessary waste of food that’s still perfectly good,” said Chris MacAulay, Vice President of Operations for Too Good To Go North America. “Establishing clear, consistent national standards for date labeling is not only a bipartisan, practical opportunity to improve consumer understanding of food safety and quality, but it also reduces waste and strengthens the efficiency of the U.S. food system in a cost-effective way. We’re proud to support this effort and encourage policymakers to advance solutions that bring greater clarity to food date labeling nationwide.”
For composters, food recovery organizations, and other operators managing surplus food, clearer labels could reduce the premature disposal of edible products and improve donation flows. Standardized labeling would not eliminate food waste, but it represents a practical upstream step that could shift consumer behavior and reduce avoidable tonnage moving through the system, underscoring the need for organics processing infrastructure that can flex as upstream waste patterns change.
