Slate recently ran a fabulous article on the caution contained in food date labels. How ‘expiration dates’ aren’t that. On Monday, NPR’s Talk of the Nation had Nadia Arumugam, the article’s author, on to discuss the topic. It’s interesting stuff, and exciting to hear it discussed on such a grand stage. Although I did find [...]
For those of you disgusted or at least dismayed by the ‘beaurocracy gone wild’ waste prompted by the Chicago Board of Health that I linked to last week, here’s a piece from Chicago Public Radio on the events. Seems like the food was tossed because its owner couldn’t prove it was safe. Not because anyone [...]
It’s not new, but I enjoyed this whimsical little video that I unearthed while doing some research. In the same vein as Replate, FoodBox was conceived by some Parsons students as a way to get our leftovers to the hungry. Empathy and idealism over health regulations. Behold: I get a kick out of the tin [...]
From Japan comes the neat idea of meat labels that go dark when the food becomes unsafe, preventing bar code scanning. Fresh Labels work by detecting levels of ammonia in the meat, preventing stores from tampering with expiration dates, a recent problem in Japan. I love the idea, since it focuses on when the food [...]
Here’s a look inside the food-waste-to-energy plant in Oakland. Hey Bay Area folks, keep your oyster shells, rags and rocks out of the compost! — — Using watermelon cast-offs to make fuel? Seriously? I thought watermelon was about 99% water? And which have more energy–original or seedless? Of course, it’d be great if we weren’t [...]
We all have those fridge mysteries. Count On It labels are intended to solve those by reminding you when you opened a jar or bottle. The labels let you scratch off the day and month (what–no time of day?!) to eliminate the guesswork and possibly reduce the waste from unknown food safety. Lyndsey Young, a.k.a. [...]
I recently came across Still Tasty, and I give it two thumbs up. The site provides a reference for how long food will stay both safe and, yes, tasty. In doing so, it strikes a nice balance between providing official information and realism. Their take on expiration dates is spot on. And the Keep it [...]
The Little Debbie Saga continues… Last week I wrote about a Little Debbie delivery vehicle that tipped over and the shenanigans that led to its contents being thrown away. Whiel perhaps we should have seen this coming, given their choice of transport, opinions differed on whether or not the cake company wanted to donate the goods to [...]
The Brits have proposed yet another innovative idea for reducing food waste: ban sell-by dates. As part of the War on Waste campaign, Britain’s Environment Secretary, Hilary Benn proposed the elimination of these “sell-by” dates while keeping true expiration dates to avoid confusion. Many consumers see the dates aimed at retailers and just throw items away. What’s more, [...]
CNET Asia blogger Michael Tan raises an interesting question, albeit in a confrontational manner: If you care about the environment and not wasting food, should you buy the container of milk closer to its expiration date? Robin Shreeves from the Mother Nature Network runs with the question, applying it to various supermarket sections. Her main [...]
