Food Waste: The Role of Date Labels, Package Size, and Product Category

Wilson, Norbert L.W.; Rickard, Bradley J.; Saputo, Rachel; Ho, Shuay-Tsyr

doi:10.2139/ssrn.2700692

Cited by 28 publications

(52 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…“sell by”, “use by”, and “best before”) that leads them to discard unspoiled food. [ 24 , 56 ] Several novel technologies have recently been developed to help consumers identify whether foods are safe to eat, such as sensors on food packages that detect spoilage;[ 57 ] and apps have been developed to remind consumers of date labels and help plan meals to avoid food waste. [ 58 , 59 ] Legislative efforts, such as the proposed Food Date Labeling Act of 2016, aim to standardize date labels on foods to reduce consumer confusion and food waste,[ 60 ] yet the fate of this proposed legislation is uncertain.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between food waste, diet quality, and environmental sustainability

et al. 2018

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Improving diet quality while simultaneously reducing environmental impact is a critical focus globally. Metrics linking diet quality and sustainability have typically focused on a limited suite of indicators, and have not included food waste. To address this important research gap, we examine the relationship between food waste, diet quality, nutrient waste, and multiple measures of sustainability: use of cropland, irrigation water, pesticides, and fertilizers. Data on food intake, food waste, and application rates of agricultural amendments were collected from diverse US government sources. Diet quality was assessed using the Healthy Eating Index-2015. A biophysical simulation model was used to estimate the amount of cropland associated with wasted food. This analysis finds that US consumers wasted 422g of food per person daily, with 30 million acres of cropland used to produce this food every year. This accounts for 30% of daily calories available for consumption, one-quarter of daily food (by weight) available for consumption, and 7% of annual cropland acreage. Higher quality diets were associated with greater amounts of food waste and greater amounts of wasted irrigation water and pesticides, but less cropland waste. This is largely due to fruits and vegetables, which are health-promoting and require small amounts of cropland, but require substantial amounts of agricultural inputs. These results suggest that simultaneous efforts to improve diet quality and reduce food waste are necessary. Increasing consumers’ knowledge about how to prepare and store fruits and vegetables will be one of the practical solutions to reducing food waste.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relationship between food waste, diet quality, and environmental sustainability

et al. 2018

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“…Other approaches have been used to measure an individual's waste of specific food products. Wilson, Rickard, Saputo, and Ho (2017) used non-hypothetical experimental auctions to elicit consumers' willingness-to-pay (WTP) for cereals, salads, and yogurts that had different expiration and sell-by date labels. In addition to eliciting WTP, they also asked consumers, for each product, the percent of the product they expected to consume.…”

Section: Defining and Measuring Household Food Wastementioning

confidence: 99%

Economics of household food waste

Lusk

Ellison

2020

Canadian J Agri Economics

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Food waste has drawn increasing public attention, and the high levels of estimated waste are largely considered to be a failure of our current food system. Recently, economists have begun to weigh in, showing food waste can emerge as the result of a complex equilibrium affected by consumers' preferences for convenience; expectations about future food prices and availability; food safety concerns; producers' costs of holding inventory, transportation, and storage; government regulation; and technology. If food waste is a form of inefficiency, there are either strong economic motivations to reduce waste, or unmeasured costs or preferences affecting waste decisions. If consumers have behavioral biases, suffer from information asymmetries, or do not pay the full cost of their waste, there may be a role for government intervention to reduce waste, but most empirical models in the literature have not articulated or quantified the extent of the deadweight loss from the market failures in relation to food waste. In some cases, waste reduction efforts could harm producers if overall demand for food is reduced or harm consumers if overconsumption is encouraged, quality or safety degrades, or supply disruptions occur. Technological innovations, which lower the cost of storage or extend shelf life have the potential to improve both consumer and producer welfare.

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“…Also in the United States, the presence of food waste, and ways to reduce it, has generated significant debate among industry stakeholders, policy makers, and consumer groups (Wilson et al, 2015). Many have argued that the variety of date labels used by food manufacturers leads to confusion about food quality and food safety among consumers.…”

Section: Surveys On Data Labellingmentioning

confidence: 99%