Well, there goes my steep discount on perfectly fine food. I often get 30% off or more buying “sell by” dairy products. It’s a strike signal for me, yet for others it’s the opposite. Reducing confusion makes sense when you look at the colossal amount of waste it has generated. And my favorite part of this story is the conclusion.

With no federal regulations dictating what information labels should include, the stamps have led to consumer confusion — and nearly 20% of the nation’s food waste, according to the Food and Drug Administration. In California, that’s about 6 million tons of unexpired food that’s tossed in the trash each year.

Nate Rose, a spokesperson for the California Grocers Association, said some grocers have had to overhaul their labeling systems, but as a whole, the association has been supportive of the change.

The new labels will result in “a win-win where we can reduce food waste and consumers will find these decisions a little bit simpler,” he said, adding that shoppers will still find old labels in stores for months to come as grocers sell through the products that already have them.

He is talking about a stamped exact date as if it’s just a vague process that runs for months on its own. That alone exposes the complete mess of “sell by” label management.