California clamps – A new California law will narrow food-label date phrases to two—“BEST if Used by” (quality) and “USE by” (safety)—aiming to cut confusion and reduce unintentional food waste. Assembly Bill 660 takes effect July 1 and limits the phrases allowed on products manu
For years, a passed-over “sell-by” date has been a silent trigger in American kitchens: bread gets tossed, leftovers disappear, and shoppers pay for uncertainty with their trash cans.
California is trying to end that guessing game. A new state law signed as Assembly Bill 660 will shrink the variety of food date labels to just two phrases, clarifying what each one means and reducing the food waste that has grown from everyday confusion.
In the United States. there are more than 50 distinct food date labels. according to a report published by researchers with the University of Maryland. Shoppers may see wording such as “Use by. ” “Best by. ” “Expires by. ” or “Please enjoy by”—phrases that can sound similar but can imply different outcomes for the food.
Some date labels. as Andrea Collins—senior specialist in food waste for the Natural Resources Defense Council. a U.S.-based nonprofit focused on environmental policies—described. are used to help store clerks manage inventory. But most labels. Collins said. are used by packaged-food companies to communicate to consumers how long a product will remain at peak quality. A few labels are meant to warn consumers that the risk of food-borne illness increases with time.
The problem is that those meanings are often not conveyed clearly to shoppers, Collins said. When people assume a date means the food is unsafe, they may discard food they would otherwise have eaten.
A 2025 national survey conducted by Harvard Law School. John Hopkins. and ReFED. a U.S.-based nonprofit working to solve food waste. found that of more than 2. 000 respondents. 87% said they believed they understood the meanings of eight different labels—but only 53% answered correctly when quizzed. The same survey found that 43% of respondents always or usually discard food near or past the date on the label. up from 37% in 2016.
California. according to the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery—CalRecycle—sends 48% of what residents put in landfills as organic waste. and 2.5 billion meals’ worth of unspoiled food are tossed each year. CalRecycle also tied the waste to climate impacts. saying that as organic waste decomposes in landfills it accounts for 41% of the state’s methane emissions. a greenhouse gas with 84 times the power to heat the climate as carbon dioxide.
The waste also hits households directly when food is thrown out too soon.
Assembly Bill 660 signed into law and taking effect July 1 is aimed at narrowing the allowed phrases on packages to two, with the goal of reducing both confusion and avoidable disposal.
The bill requires manufacturers to use only two food date labels to mark the quality or safety of a product in California. The first phrase is “BEST if Used by” or “BEST if Used or Frozen by. ” which indicates peak freshness or quality. The second phrase is “USE by” or “USE by or Freeze by. ” which indicates when a food item is no longer safe to eat.
Starting next month, the law will prohibit the sale of any food product that isn’t labeled with either phrase. That restriction applies to products manufactured on or after July 1, 2026, even if other wording still appears on items that were already on shelves or in retailers’ stock.
The law also bans the use of “sell by” dates on food packaging. It still allows coded “sell by” dates that retain stock rotation information for retailers.
California’s move comes amid a long-running mismatch between what date labels are supposed to communicate and how Americans interpret them.
Collins said it’s a common misconception that the federal government regulates food-date labels. With the exception of infant formula, she said, that isn’t the case. Emily Broad Leib. a clinical professor of law and director of the Harvard Law School Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation. described the United States as one of the only countries without a federal roadmap for state labels on food.
Several states began requiring date labels on certain foods in the late 1950s, with laws accelerating in the 1970s. But Broad Leib said those efforts did not establish nationwide standards for what the labels meant or which language would be used. Over time, she said, most consumers interpreted those labels as safety dates.
Broad Leib said the result is a mismatch: “Over time, a large majority of consumers interpreted those as safety dates, and so we have this real mismatch [of interpretation].”
Enforcement under Assembly Bill 660 will fall primarily to local authorities. A spokesperson with the California Department of Public Health said the state’s enforcement responsibility centers on local health agencies during routine inspections.
The California Retail Food Code. the state agency said. sets health and sanitation standards for retail food facilities. enforced by local health agencies during inspections. That means the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health—listed as the local enforcement agency for these requirements in the region—will monitor whether businesses comply.
The Los Angeles Department of Public Health told The Times via email that when violations are observed during routine inspections or complaint investigations, they would be noted on the facility’s Official Inspection Report, and appropriate enforcement action would be taken by Public Health.
Broad Leib said she believes the law is a step in the right direction. arguing consumers should have only two labels and that California shoppers should be able to make better economic and safety decisions. She said. “We should have only two labels. and it should be clear which one is for safety and which one is for quality. so that consumers [in California] can make better economic and safety decisions.”.
At the same time, she said it’s unclear what kind of training local inspectors are receiving—not just to stop businesses that violate the rules, but to identify whether companies are using the correct of the two labels for specific products.
“It could be something to watch out for or future, maybe, state-level guidance on how they should do these inspections,” Broad Leib said. “Or even guidance to businesses around making the decision of which label to use.”
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