Ifyouboughtsomecandymonthsagobutneverateithowcanyoutellwhetherit’sstilleatable?Theeasiestwayistocheckthe“expirationdate(保质期)”printedonthewrapper.Ifthatdatehasalreadypassedyou’relikelytothrowthecandyaway.Butisthatreallynecessary?

AccordingtoanewreportfromtheUSNaturalResourcesDefenseCouncil(NRDC)tonsoffoodiswastedeachyearlargelybecausepeopledon’tfullyunderstandwhatexpirationdatesor“use-bydates”actuallymean.

Fooddatingwasintroducedin1970sbecausecustomerswantedmoreinformationaboutthethingsthattheywereeating.Whentheyfirstshowedupuse-bydatesonlyshowedfreshnessbecauseproducerswantedtheirproductstobetastedintheirbestconditions.

Howevermostcustomersmistakenlybelievedthatuse-bydatesshowedhowsafethefoodwasandtheystilllargelydo.Butthetruthisthatthesedatesaren’trelatedtothedangeroffoodpoisoning(中毒)accordingtoTimeNews.Eggsforexamplecanstillbeeatenthreetofiveweeksafterbeingboughteventhoughtheuse-bydateismuchearlier.Whentheiruse-bydatespassstrawberry-flavoredcookiesmaylosetheircrunch（松脆的口感）buttheyarenotharmful.

“It’sanunclearsubjectthedifferencebetweenfoodquality(质量)andfoodsafety”saidJenaRobertsvicepresidentofNationalFoodLabaUSfoodtestingcompany.“Eveninthefoodindustryhasworkmateswhoarenotsureaboutit.”

Thisiswhyscientistsarecallingforastandardexplanationtobeprintedfollowingtheuse-bydates.“Wewantthistobeclearlycommunicatedsocustomersarenotmisinterpretingtheinformationandwastingalotoffood”saidDanaGundersastaffscientistwiththeNRDC.

Butthiswon’tbeamistakethatiseasytocorrectsincepeoplehavebelieveditforsolong.Anotherproblemisthatthequalitylevelsofdifferentfoodschangedifferently-somearestilleatablelongaftertheiruse-bydatewhileothersarenot.

Asaresultfoodindustryofficialsarenowthinkingofchangingtheuse-bydatetoadateshowingwhenfoodismostlikelytothrowaway.

1.WhatdoesthewritermainlywanttotellusinParagraph1?

A.Whenwethrowthefoodaway. C.Howwechecktheexpirationdate.

C.Howweknowifthefoodiseatable.