What’s New
The FDA and USDA have extended the comment period for a Request for Information (RFI) about food date labeling, which includes the usage of terms such as ‘Sell By,’ ‘Use By’ and ‘Best By’ which was previously announced on December 3, 2024. The comment period will be open until March 5, 2025.
New FDA Food Code Reduces Barriers to Food Donations
The FDA recently released 2022 Food Code helps reduce barriers to food donations by clarifying for the first time that food donations from retail food establishments are acceptable as long as proper food safety practices are followed.
Key Steps for Donating Food – For Retail Food Establishments
In the United States, food waste is estimated at between 30–40 percent of the food supply. This figure, based on estimates from USDA’s Economic Research Service of food loss at the retail and consumer levels, corresponded to approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food in 2010. Food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills and represents wasted nourishment that could have helped feed families in need. Additionally, water, energy, and labor used to produce wasted food could have been employed for other purposes. Effectively reducing food waste will require cooperation among federal, state, tribal and local governments, faith-based institutions, environmental organizations, communities, consumers, and the entire supply chain.
New Step in Federal Interagency Collaboration
In May 2024, The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) signed the formal agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to renew their Federal Interagency Collaboration to Reduce Food Loss and Waste (FIFLAW). Additionally, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) joined the collaboration as an important federal partner that has an international reach in reducing food loss and waste, marking a significant expansion of the federal collaboration.
This 2024 agreement updates a series of agreements and national strategies that began in 2018, all aimed at improving coordination and communication across federal agencies attempting to better educate Americans on the impacts and importance of reducing food loss and waste.
“The FDA is committed to achieving the goal of a 50% reduction of food loss and waste by 2030 through a whole-of-government approach in collaboration with the USDA, EPA and USAID,” said FDA Commissioner Robert M. Califf, M.D. “We also recognize the role that empowered U.S. consumers can play in helping to reach the national food waste reduction goal. We encourage consumers and retailers to use the FDA’s food loss and waste reduction resources including the 2022 Food Code, Tips to Reduce Food Waste and the Food Loss and Waste Social Media Toolkit to bolster their efforts.”
On June 12, 2024, the FDA, USDA and EPA FDA announced the “National Strategy for Reducing Food Loss and Waste and Recycling Organics” as part of President Biden’s whole-of-government approach to tackle climate change, feed people, address environmental justice, and promote a circular economy.
The draft strategy featured four objectives:
- Prevent food loss.
- Prevent food waste.
- Increase the recycling rate for all organic waste.
- Support policies that incentivize and encourage food loss and waste prevention and organics recycling.
Additional Activities
On April 9, 2019, USDA, EPA, and FDA signed a formal agreement with ReFED, Inc. to collaborate on efforts to reduce food waste in the United States. The agencies and ReFED agreed to develop approaches for measuring the success of food waste strategies, advance data collection and measurement efforts, and to participate as appropriate in the Further with Food: Center for Food Loss and Waste partnership, among other activities. The agreement was renewed in September 2021 and will remain in effect for three years.
USDA, EPA and FDA renewed the interagency agreement on June 1, 2024 with the Food Waste Reduction AllianceExternal Link Disclaimer, representing three major sectors of the supply chain – food manufacturing, retail, and restaurant and food service. Through this partnership, the three agencies formalized industry education and outreach efforts with the Consumer Brands Association, FMI – The Food Industry Association, and the National Restaurant Association, the three founding partners of FWRA. The Alliance pursues three goals: reducing the amount of food waste generated; increasing the amount of safe, nutritious food donated to those in need; and diverting food waste from landfills.
On December 3, 2024, the FDA and the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) jointly announced a Request for Information (RFI) about food date labeling, which includes the usage of terms such as ‘Sell By,’ ‘Use By’ and ‘Best By.’ The RFI seeks information on industry practices and preferences for date labeling, research results on consumer perceptions of date labeling, and any impact date labeling may have on food waste and grocery costs.
Source: https://www.fda.gov/food/consumers/food-loss-and-waste
