Consumer-readable sell-by dating replaced an older system of symbols or numbers whose meaning was understood only by the retailer. It was replaced by consumer-readable date labels in an attempt to achieve increased consumer transparency. How should conflicts between demands for consumer transparency and the policy objective of reducing food waste be decided?Food product date labeling that is intelligible to consumers emerged in the United States in the 1970s amid concerns about food safety and freshness. That history is important because food safety and freshness continue to be the lens through which consumers interpret any date printed on food packaging, whether or not its significance is safety or freshness related. One of the fallouts of this is that date labels whose significance is mainly commercial (e.g., “sell by”) encourage consumers to throw away and waste food that is edible and poses no inherent safety risk.