By, Carla Hindman, Director ofFinancial Education, Visa CanadaHow many times have you goneto pour milk in your coffee, only tosee that the date on the cartonwas yesterday? Some people willinstinctively throw it away, butchances are that's not what thelabel is intended to convey. It'slikely a marker for when the foodmight taste its best, not if it's safeto eat.By some estimates, Canadianswaste an estimated $31-billion ayear by throwing out what theybelieve is expired food. It's no sur-prise as there are dozens of differ-ent lables in use, but the misun-derstanding and lack of meal plan-ning are contributing to a largerproblem. Approximately 25 per-cent of Canada's food supplywinds up in the trash or a compostcontainer.The benefits of reducing foodwaste are numerous. You'll savemoney, which may be reasonenough. You could also be lower-ing your carbon footprint by keep-ing spoiled food out of landfillsand cutting down on the growingand transportation of food thatdoesn't get eaten.Cutting back on this waste couldstart with understanding what foodlabels actually mean.Don't misinterpret food dates asexpiration dates. According to TheCanadian Food InspectionAgency, aside from on infant for-mula, food label dates aren't anindication of whether or not thefood is safe to eat. For example,"best by" may mean the food willtaste, look and feel its best if itseaten by that date. It could still begood for days, weeks or evenmonths (for non-perishables) afterthat date.Some provinces do require expi-ration dates on milk or meat andfood labeling could become lessconfusing across the country. Butfor now, you may need to rely onyour judgment. The CanadianFood Inspection Agency writesthat if foods don't show signs ofspoilage, such as changing colorsor giving off an unpleasant smell,

they could still be safe and whole-some.Quick tips for keeping fruit andvegetables fresh for longer.Regardless of the date, properfood storage can impact a food'slongevity.

Wait to wash food until you'reabout to cook or eat. Otherwise,the moisture could spur bacterialgrowth.

Strategically store items in yourrefrigerator. Your food will typicallylast longer if you put the least per-ishable items on the door, meatnear the bottom back (unlessthere's a meat drawer), veggies inthe crisper and dairy or drinksnear the top.

Generally, you want to keepfruits and vegetables away fromeach other because many fruitsproduce ethylene gas and expo-sure to the gas could cause veg-etables to spoil more quickly.There are also vegetables thatproduce the gas and fruits that aresensitive to it.

If you're storing a fruit or veg-etable that gives off and is sus-ceptible to ethylene gas, wrap it inaluminum foil or store it in a paperbag rather than using less–breath-able plastic wrap or bags.You can look for more tips aboutparticular foods online. There arealso apps that can automaticallyconnect to your supermarket loy-alty programs to track what youbuy (or you can upload a pictureof your receipt), warn you whensomething may be going bad andrecommend recipes that incorpo-rate those foods.Find creative uses for foods thatare on their way out. Whether youuse an app to sync shopping listsand schedule meals or use apaper list, meal planning can helpcut down on waste as well. Buteven with great intentions some-times things get forgotten, ormeals get pushed off until it'salmost too late.You can save vegetables from thetrash by roasting them, makingsoup or turning them into a casse-role. Carrots, potatoes and otherroot veggies (plus zucchinis) canbe grated and fried to make frit-ters. You could bake fruits intobreads, throw them into smooth-ies or freeze them for later. In theend, the goal is to use everythingyou buy.Bottom line: Food waste could bedraining your wallet, hurting theenvironment and in some cases,may be completely unnecessary.Learning to correctly interpret foodlabels and performing a sight andsmell test before throwing some-thing away could help. Taking thetime to prepare before you shop,having a plan for how you're goingto use the food you buy and beingokay with a last–minute backupplan can help even more. In theend, taking the extra time to eval-uate the true condition of yourfood can save you money.

Page. 8 THE OSHAWA/DURHAM CENTRAL NEWSPAPER July 30th ~ August 5th, 2018

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