You may be throwing out perfectly good food if you are just going by the date on the package.
Researchers at Johns Hopkins University surveyed over a thousand adults about how frequently they throw out food based on the date listed.
Nearly 40-percent said they always or usually discarded food if it was near the listed date.
More than half thought that the date was federally regulated but it's not.
Experts say if the label says "best if used by," it means the quality of the item may decrease but it is still ok to be consumed.
Only few items have a "use by" label and those are the ones that should be thrown out after the date for safety reasons.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture says consumers and retailers waste nearly a third of food a year.