We’re all guilty of throwing away food that is still good enough to be consumed. Why? Largely because the printed expiry dates say otherwise. Most times, food waste can be avoided with more clarity around food labeling.

Food waste is a major problem. And it occurs at every stage of the food supply chain. 

According to the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Food Waste Index Report 2021:
- 17% of global food production is estimated to go to waste. That is an astonishing 931 million tonnes of food that end up in the trash every year. 
- 61% of this waste occurs at the household level
- 26% from food service, and 
- 13% from retail establishments. 

Burgeoning Waste Issues

Food waste is both a social and environmental issue. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), nearly one in three people in the world did not have access to adequate food in 2020. We are living in a world where over 800 million people go hungry and 3 billion people are unable to afford a healthy diet. Yet the average household throws out 74kg of food each year on a per capita basis.

Food waste not only exacerbates global food insecurity and burdens waste management systems, but it is also responsible for around eight percent of global emissions. To put this in perspective, if food waste was represented as a country, it would be the third largest greenhouse gas emitter, after China and the United States. Food waste has turned into a global crisis that warrants the world’s immediate attention. As such, the FAO’s Sustainable Development Goal Target 12.3 aims to halve food waste across the retail and consumer levels and reduce food loss along production and supply chains by 2030. 

Food Dates Leave Consumers Clueless and Confused

Besides excessive buying habits influenced by package sizes, consumers are clueless about proper food storage and confused over food date labels; adding to the world’s waste woes. While date labels on food products may not be solely responsible for food waste, they are a significant contributor to food waste. Globally, date labels such as “sell by”, “use by”, “expires on,” and “best by” or “best before” do little to inform consumers if they refer to freshness quality or food safety. As such, food date labels unintentionally contribute to large quantities of perfectly safe and edible food being thrown out as consumers misinterpret date labels as indicators of safety rather than quality. 

1) Understanding Food Date Labels 
With over 60% of food waste occurring at the household level, much can be done to educate consumers on proper storage and safe food handling methods to prevent such waste. But perhaps the easiest step is helping consumers understand what date labels really mean.

2) Sell By Date
This date is actually meant for retailers (not consumers) to indicate how long they should display the product on shelves, beyond which the product may not necessarily spoil and remain safe to eat. Consumers may unwittingly misinterpret the product as expired and unsafe for consumption.

3) Use By/ Expires on Date
“Use By” and “Expires on” dates are about food safety as they tell consumers the last date that the food is safe for consumption. This is the most important date to look out for. It is illegal to sell food after these dates as it may pose health and safety risks. 

Source: Unesda

Tackling Food Waste with Coding & Marking Technologies
Understanding food date labels is a crucial first step in food waste prevention, but manufacturers can also do more with coding and marking technologies to reduce food loss. Compared to linear barcodes, 2D barcodes such as QR codes and Data Matrix codes can help share detailed information about a food product as they hold more information in considerably smaller spaces while retaining legibility even in small sizes. 

The rMQR Code (rectangular Micro QR Code) is a further development of the QR code technology and can be printed in spaces with limited height dimensions. Here at RYNAN, we offer printing solutions that can print rMQR codes in long, narrow, or limited spaces which had previously been difficult to reach on smaller food packaging. 

While 2D barcodes aid consumers in making informed decisions about their purchases by providing information such as expiration and best-before dates, nutritional and allergy information, they also give retailers more control over their inventory as they can store large amounts of data in a small space. 

Sell-by or use-by dates can be easily embedded in 2D barcodes, helping retailers identify which products are fast approaching their expiry dates, thus enhancing inventory visibility and aiding in better stock management. By linking this information to their inventory or POS systems, retailers can automatically apply discounted prices on expiring products, instead of disposing of them. This further improves waste management at the retail level. As 2D barcodes can hold a plethora of information, retailers can also easily identify affected batches in the event of a recall and avoid destroying unaffected products which are still fit for consumption. 

There is much potential in coding and marking technologies to improve food safety, stock management, and traceability in all processes from production to consumption. These little coded squares and rectangles are just the tip of the iceberg in our fight against the world’s food waste crisis.