Work

Food waste, date labels, and risk preferences: An experimental exploration

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This study provides theoretical and experimental evidence that consumers adjust their premeditated food waste by date labels and their risk and loss preferences. The “Use by” date label leads to more premeditated food waste than “Best by” for deli meat and spaghetti sauce. However, changing date labels may not lower premeditated food waste relative to no label at all. Greater loss aversion correlates with higher premeditated food waste regardless of date labels and products. For participants with high loss aversion, they have higher premediated waste with no statistical difference in response for “Best by” and “Use by” labels. These results highlight the heterogeneous response to date labels.

Source: Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy

DOI: 10.1002/aepp.13507

Authors: Norbert Lance Weston Wilson, Ruiqing Miao

Institutions: Duke University, Auburn University

Language: English

Topic: Food Waste Reduction and Sustainability

Subfield: Food Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDGs: Responsible consumption and production, Zero hunger

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,750