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If you bought some bread months ago but never ate it, how can you tell whether it is still safe to eat? The common way is to check the “use-by date”. If that date has already passed, you’re likely to throw the bread away. But is that really necessary?

According to a new report from the US Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), tons of food is wasted each year, largely because people don’t fully understand what “use-by dates” actually mean.

Food dating was introduced in the 1970s because consumers wanted more information about the things that they were eating. When they first showed up, use-by dates were only supposed to show freshness because producers wanted their products to be tasted in their best conditions.

But the truth is that these dates aren’t related to the risk of food illness, according to Times News. However, most customers misunderstood use-by dates and related them to the safety of the food, and they still largely do now. Eggs, for example, can still be eaten three to five weeks after selling even though the use-by date is much earlier. When their use-by dates pass, strawberry drinks may lose their red color and biscuits may lose their crunch (松脆), but they are not harmful.

This is why scientists are calling for a standard explanation to be printed following the use-by dates. “We want this to be clearly communicated so customers are not misunderstanding and causing a lot of waste,” said Dana Ganders, a staff scientist with the NRDC. But this will be a problem that is difficult to solve because people have believed it for so long. Another problem is that the quality levels of different foods change differently—some are still safe to eat long after their use-by date while others are not.

As a result, food industry officials are now thinking of changing the use-by date to a date indicating (指示) when food is most likely to go bad.

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