Fixed dates on food are everywhere, relied upon by retailers, manufacturers, restaurants, and consumers around the world. They first appeared on supermarket shelves in the 1970s, to assure safety and quality, and it would be a great system if not for one giant problem. Fixed dates cause eye-watering amounts of waste. If you buy 100 packs of food, most likely all 100 will still be fresh at the expiration date. Stores and restaurants trash unsold food past the date, when most of that food is still fresh to eat or cook. Supermarkets need to ensure stock while minimizing waste. That’s hardest for shorter shelf-life fresh foods, and the result is typically a waste rate of 5-10% in every supermarket store, of mostly edible food. This waste will also cost a typical retailer $100m+ in lost sales every year, but regulation (or the lack of it) and precedence now protect this old system.

Determining Expiration Dates

It’s important to understand how food expiration dates are determined to see how we can improve waste outcomes, while retaining high quality and safety standards. The average person is not aware how food expiration dates are decided, and a printed date cannot know the actual freshness of any specific food package. Dates are chosen to cover a worst-case scenario, based on a small number of food samples, from a process called "shelf-life testing."

For most packaged food products, a small batch of samples (5-50) is stored in fridges at simulated real-world temperatures. Samples are then taken out and tested across the anticipated shelf-life duration. Testing is a combination of A) sensory analysis (a panel of trained people observing, smelling and tasting the product, then scoring it) and B) lab-based microbiological analysis. The day at which the product spoils, plus a buffer margin, results in the recommended shelf life, which serves as a basis for calculating the expiration (or "use by" or "best before") date. One shelf-life test often covers an entire year of manufacturing.

Based on small samples, these dates have to ensure quality for nearly every food product purchased. However, there is natural variation between food products, both within the food and during its journey. Each pack is physically unique; even two pork chops from the same pig can start with different levels of contamination at the time of packaging, and quality/hygiene issues will arise from time-to-time at manufacturing sites. The journey of each pack is also different, influenced by travel time, temperature, weather conditions, and package handling.

Dates are set to cover the worst-case scenario of this variation This means that most food, in most locations, most of the time is still good to eat past the expiration date. However, the date is fixed, and so billions of dollars worth of fresh food is wasted unnecessarily. Replacing a fixed date with a dynamic shelf-life notification could reduce fresh food waste by 50%. Reducing food waste waste is one of the top ways to combat climate change, as food waste is the largest component of U.S. landfills, making up 22% of municipal solid waste.

A Better Option

Instead of a fixed date, food should actually tell you how fresh it is. To get there, we need digital use-by dates based on freshness data from the food itself.

BlakBear has invented a sensor that measures gases released by food degradation. It’s a small electric label, placed on food packages in the production line. It sends out gas and temperature data every second, wirelessly, by either RFID or Bluetooth. The sensor detects a wide range of spoilage gases that correlate strongly (R=0.91) with existing methods (lab microbiology (APC) and sensory (odor) testing panels). The result is real-time shelf-life information at a fraction of the cost, with 75% less waste than a traditional shelf-life test. BlakBear is like a digital sniff test—without the need to open a pack. BlakBear’s study revealed that extending fresh chicken shelf-life one day is possible, and could reduce chicken waste at retailers by 25%.

The End of Printed Dates

There is a significant challenge to persuade regulators, companies, and the public that printed dates can be replaced with a better way. But with new technologies making it economically feasible, and rising food costs and consumer concerns making waste unacceptable, the days of printed dates are numbered, and we won’t look back.

About BlakBear

BlakBear’s mission is to expedite the transition to digital use-by dates on food. Food should tell you how fresh it is, reducing food waste by 75%. Founded by PhD students from Imperial College London, BlakBear invented the first digital spoilage sensor for individual food packages. BlakBear is currently used by major retailers and food producers in North America and Europe.

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The views and opinions expressed in this guest blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of ReFED.