When you're persuing the grocery aisles, the myriad of expiration labels on items - especially on dairy products and meats - could be intimidating. With phrases like "best by," "use by," and "sell by," manufacturers are simply making an educated guess on when their products will be in prime condition. However, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has clarified that these date labels are not indicators of how safe a product is to consume, with the sole exception being infant formula.

"Date labels indicate when food is at its optimal freshness," says Nina Sevilla, a program advocate for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a non-profit organization combatting food waste. "Even if an item is a few days past that date, it's typically still safe to consume."

Yet, the ambiguity arising from multiple types of date labels often leads consumers to throw out food prematurely - contributing to a significant amount of waste. Astonishingly, almost 40% of the food prepared for consumption in the US is never actually consumed.

According to Sevilla, utilizing your senses is the most reliable method to ascertain if your food has expired. "Our body instinctively reacts negatively when it comes into contact with spoiled food due to an evolutionary safety mechanism. Our sense of taste and smell has been refined over centuries to protect us from consuming harmful substances," she explains.

In an effort to reduce unnecessary food wastage, the NRDC is urging for federal initiatives to introduce standardized food date labels. But until such a measure is enacted, the consumers must use their discretion to understand the various labels they encounter in their grocery shopping and leverage their freezers to slow down food ripening to reduce food waste.