California bans sell by dates on packaged food

A new California law that took effect on July 1, 2026, has fundamentally changed the date labels on packaged food, banning the common but confusing "sell by" phrase in favor of standardized language designed to reduce food waste. The state is the first in the nation to mandate such a system, which requires manufacturers to use "best if used by" for quality and "use by" for safety.

The legislation, Assembly Bill 660, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom in 2024. It aims to address widespread consumer confusion over the meaning of various date labels, which proponents say leads households to discard billions of pounds of safe, edible food annually. Officials estimate Californians throw away the equivalent of 2.5 billion meals of unspoiled food each year, contributing significantly to landfill waste and methane emissions.

Under the new rules, food producers and retailers can no longer use "sell by" dates on consumer-facing packaging for most items. Instead, they must use "best if used by" or "best if used or frozen by" to indicate when a product is expected to be at peak quality. For dates related to food safety, the mandated phrases are "use by" or "use by or freeze by." The law...