AFFI Joins Product Code Dating Initiative

The American Frozen Food Institute (AFFI) has come aboard Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) and the Grocery Manufacturers Association’s (GMA) joint Product Code Date Labeling initiative.

“When it comes to food waste, we’ve all seen the statistics: 40 percent of the food produced in the United States each year is never eaten, amounting to about $162 billion lost every year,” noted Alison Bodor, president and CEO of McLean, Va.-based AFFI, citing data from the trade organization. “When you begin to dig deeper into these statistics, you find that consumer confusion over the meaning of labels may account for as much as 20 percent of consumer waste of safe, edible food.”

Added Bodor. “We already know that frozen food generates almost 50 percent less waste when compared to ambient and chilled food consumed in the home, yet there is more that our industry can do. That’s why AFFI is joining FMI and GMA’s voluntary product code dating initiative. AFFI’s support of the 'Best If Used By' language to indicate best product quality for frozen foods will help facilitate consumer understanding of date labeling and lessen food waste.”

Developed by a working group of 25 board-level companies from GMA and FMI, and introduced last February, the initiative, which aims to streamline and standardize the wording accompanying date labels on packages, so as to provide greater clarity about products’ quality and safety, recently released two new documents to help manufacturers and retailers understand and implement the program.