I can't begin to tell you the amount of food I throw out because of dates on the label. I know I'm not alone in this. A change is coming in food labeling.

I love to cook, and I love to grocery shop. I also love to stock up on food items when they are on sale, or I find a recipe I want to try, so I buy up all of the ingredients to save until I can make it. Because of all of the above, I recently threw out more food than I care to think about because the "Use By" dates were well beyond.

A story from nbcconnecticut.com says that many of us in this country don't have a handle on all the different ways food products are labeled and that is leading to needless waste. The United States grocery industry wants to see a change in all of those varying labels of, Best By, Best Flavor By, Enjoy By, Use By, Sell By, and Expires On. Feeling confused? You're not alone.

What the confusion leads to is consumers unnecessarily throwing away some food when it might still be good to eat. Rather than having 10 or 20 phrases on your food products now, you'll just see one of two

According to Stasz, moving forward, the most common phrase for products will be "Best if Used By", which indicates the food will be safe to use or eat after the date. Then the second phrase on other products will say "Use By" which pertains to food that is highly perishable, and consumers should know that the item poses a health risk if used after the date.

I'm not sure I'll try to dig all of my tossed canned goods out of the dumpster, but I will make a change in when I toss things moving forward.

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