Catherine Steele

For my one time challenge, I spent 30 minutes researching date labeling on foods. According to the Institute of Food Technologists, confusion over date labeling leads to billions of pounds of food waste every year. Most people confuse the three, or just lump them all together. "Use-By" refers to the date a product should be eaten, for quality purposes, not necessarily because it has spoiled. "Sell-By" refers to the date that the product should be taken off of a stores shelf, the product itself still has awhile before it spoils. "Best-By" is the date closest to when the product will spoil, although smell/taste are still the best ways to ensure if a product has gone bad. The first time I learned about date labeling confusion is when I volunteered for Second Harvest. While sorting through donated cans, my volunteer supervisor told us all to disregard the "Best-By" date, and as long as the expiration date was no more than two years ago it was still okay to consume. Did you know that eggs and milk are safe to consume up to 2 weeks after their best-by date?! Here are a couple of ways to determine if food is okay to eat:
1) Smell/taste test, if it smells or tastes off, throw it out!
2) "The safe-handling test": if the food was not properly handled after buying, aka leaving meat in a hot car, then it's probably gone bad. 
3) "The storage test", how long has your food been sitting in your fridge? The recommended fridge time for poultry is 1 or 2 days, and 3 to 5 days for beef, pork, and lamb. Eggs, on the other hand, have the longest shelf live in the fridge: 3 to 5 weeks, which is well past the posted "Use By" date. 

Galmour Magazine https://www.glamour.com/story/food-expiration-use-by-date-label
Institute of Food Technologists (IFT). "The difference between 'Use-By' 'Sell-By' and 'Best-By' dates." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 15 April 2015. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150415203336.htm>.

I have really enjoyed making the effort to buy local these past couple of weeks! It's been so fun finding new places to purchase my groceries, etc. I think I will continue to do so :)

I've been doing my grocery shopping at the Farm Fresh Market off of Sutherland, they only sell locally sourced produce and is a family owned business! It's a great alternative to farmer's markets until they open back up for the summer. 

I'm starting to do meatless Mondays! I consume meat almost every day of the week so it is easiest for me to begin my journey by just designating one day to do so. Wish me luck! I'm already craving Chickfiila...