This past weekend, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed the nation’s first legislation to standardize quality and safety date labels on food products “to create clarity and consistency and better inform consumers in order to significantly reduce food waste in the state.” Specifically, AB 660 will require manufacturers to use the same phrases for date labels across products. According to the legislation, starting July 1, 2026, “BEST If Used By” will be used to communicate peak quality, and “Use By” will be used to communicate product safety. In addition, the law prohibits the use of consumer-facing “sell by” dates, which are really meant as a communication between manufacturers and stores, but are often misinterpreted to be a date for consumers to follow.

AB 660 is game-changing, not just for California, but for the country as a whole. Similar to how California laid the groundwork for fuel efficiency standards that were eventually rolled out in other states across the U.S., this law could be a bellwether for how other states treat confusing date labels on food products. Even if other states don't follow suit, the requirement for manufacturers to follow this law in California is likely to push them to standardize their labels across products they sell in other states as well, getting us much closer to effective date label standardization for the whole country.

ReFED estimates that date label concerns cause more than three million tons of food waste each year in homes across the country. Our conservative estimate is that—in California alone—this law will annually save 70,000 tons of food from going to waste with cost savings of $300 million for consumers. With thorough education, it could be three times that. What’s more, preventing this food from going to waste would eliminate nearly 100,000 cars worth of greenhouse gas emissions—and the ripple effect across the country would be even larger.

To say that passing this law took a lot of effort is an understatement. Back in 2013, I co-authored a paper with Emily Broad Leib at the Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic identifying how confusing date labels lead to significant food waste. At the time, we didn’t realize how much of a challenge it would be for the food industry to take action. But it’s taken 11 years and the hard work of countless food waste advocates to finally see a law like this come to fruition. A huge shoutout to AB 660’s author Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, Californians Against Waste, and NRDC for all of their work to get this bill across the finish line.

Looking ahead, AB 660 sets the stage for national legislation on food date labels, such as the federal Food Date Labeling Act that is currently making its way through Congress with bipartisan support. They say, “As California goes, so goes the nation,” and we’re hopeful that is what will happen with standardizing date labels.

To learn more about the potential impact of standardized date labels, check out ReFED’s Solution Database.