According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), each American throws away an average of 16 kg of food each month. In question, the expiration dates stipulated on the products, which encourage discarding by excess of precaution. However, this date is often displayed only as an indication, and many products are consumable between 12 and 18 months after this date.
It is on the basis of these observations that the USA joined forces with Cornell University and the Food Marketing Institute to create a mobile application called FoodKeeper, literally “keeper of food”. This aims to help consumers consume better and throw away less when their food is presumed to have expired.
More than 400 perishable products are integrated into the application, which provides storage advice to maximize their shelf life. So we can compare the shelf life of a banana stored in the refrigerator with a banana stored in a pantry at room temperature.
To prevent food infections, the app also recommends the best suitable cooking for red meat, poultry or seafood, depending on their expiration date. And if you are more upset, the app can also give you a little reminder a few days before the expiration date of the products, to consider consuming them before it is too late.
While the app is free and available on Apple and Android, it is only available in English.
Note that in France, each French person throws away the equivalent of 20 kg of food per year, including 7 kg perfectly packaged, “a waste which represents a loss of 400 euros per year and per household” according to the Ministry of Agriculture .
In an attempt to reduce these figures, the association of consumers UFC-What to choose recently asked to differentiate the best-before date from the best-before date, to prevent the consumer from getting lost.
Read also :
Infographic: food waste in the world and in France
World Health Day: Is Our Food Safe?
Food infections: watch out for bacteria in chickens
