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Effects of date labels and freshness indicators on food waste patterns in the United States and the United Kingdom

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Diogo Monjardino De Souza MonteiroORCiD

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2021 by the authors. To meet the target for Sustainable Development Goal 12.3, household food waste will need to be reduced by at least 284 million tonnes globally by 2030. American and British households waste a significant amount of food, and date labels are considered to be a contributor to this situation. Using a split-plot experimental design implemented on a survey administered to a convenience sample of UK and US consumers, we aimed to determine how different types of date labels and freshness indicators affect the stated likelihoods of discarding 15 foods. We find that not all date labels would lead to reductions in waste, and that semantics matter. Overall, the likelihood to waste across products was similar between the US and the UK, however, American consumers showed a larger response to the additional information provided by the freshness indicators. Our results shed new light on the ongoing policy debate related to national strategies for simplifying and harmonizing the use of date labels for packaged foods, as well as the potential effects from the use of freshness indicators.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Weis C, Narang A, Rickard B, Souza-Monteiro DM

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Sustainability

Year: 2021

Volume: 13

Issue: 14

Online publication date: 15/07/2021

Acceptance date: 14/07/2021

Date deposited: 30/09/2025

ISSN (electronic): 2071-1050

Publisher: MDPI AG

URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/su13147897

DOI: 10.3390/su13147897

Data Access Statement: Survey materials, data, and the code used to analyze the data are available upon request from the authors.

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