The Harvard Food Policy and Law Clinic (FLPC) just released a fabulous short film on date labels called EXPIRED? You can watch it below and don’t miss their stout op-ed in the LA Times. I’m pretty sure you won’t spend a better 5 minutes online today.
EXPIRED? is part of a neat companion site with plenty of resources on the mystifying topic of date labels. You know–the thing some people call ‘expiration dates.’ The things that don’t really mean anything, because they’re indicators of food quality, not food safety.
The film continues the FPLC’s outstanding work on the topic. They were among the earliest unearthers of expiration date lunacy (along with NRDC), as they evidenced by their seminal study, The Dating Game. Here’s the shorter issue brief, with then-still-unfamous Just Eat It filmmaker Grant on the cover and the full study.
The film and the study push for overarching federal guidance and standards on expiration dates. That same idea is part of Maine Congresswoman Chellie Pingree’s proposed Food Recovery Act. Let’s make this into law! If that happened, it would be a great victory for Expired to be past its “Best-Before” date.