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"  Have you ever been confused about whether or not to eat a food that was labeled &amp;quot;sell by&amp;quot; or &amp;quot;best by?&amp;quot; According to the Huffington Post, the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) recently performed a study about the food expiration date system, or lack thereof, in America.  Their findings state that due to uncertainty about the different labels including &amp;quot;best by,&amp;quot; &amp;quot;use by,&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;best before,&amp;quot; customers are both wasting food that hasn&amp;#039;t yet gone bad and eating food that is not longer safe to consume. &amp;quot;The date labeling system in the U.S. is not a system at all. It is a mess,&amp;quot; explained Dana Gunder, NRDC scientist. The study found that 9 out of 10 Americans prematurely toss out food that can still be eaten. &amp;quot;Open dates can come in a dizzying variety of forms, none of which are strictly defined or regulated at the federal level,&amp;quot; the study reads. Furthermore, certain dates printed on packaging, like &amp;quot;sell by,&amp;quot; are for retail purposes only and are not meant to influence consumer decisions. Find more great food content on Delish:   Search for the perfect recipe from our homepage Find out the latest food news Get a recipe book to save your favorite dishes Sign up for our free newsletters Check us out on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.delish.com/food/news/a40397/expiration-dates-confusing-cause-waste/?src=shelter_footer>