Dive Brief:

• USDA has released FoodKeeper, a food storage app, with the goal of lessening the billions of pounds of food wasted each year in the U.S. by informing consumers of exactly how long about 500 different foods and beverages are considered fresh.
• The app also contains tips for how to keep foods fresher for longer as well as how to prevent foodborne illness, how to store foods and beverages, and how to safely handle and cook foods, particularly meat, poultry, and egg products.
• One FoodKeeper feature, a calendar, enables consumers to enter the date they purchased a food or beverage, and the application will send notifications as products near their expiration dates.

Dive Insight:

According to Supermarket News, David Fikes, Food Marketing Institute’s VP of consumer/community affairs and communications, said, "While food date labels provide some guidance, consumer interpretation of those labels varies widely and the FoodKeeper provides yet another resource for consumers seeking to avoid prematurely discarding safe, quality foods."

The implications of such an app could be huge if it can put a dent in the estimated 21% of the U.S. food supply that iswasted at the consumer level each year. Every month, 36 pounds of food per person goes to waste at the retail and consumer levels.