{"id":9244,"date":"2021-05-14T11:37:32","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T15:37:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.porticomagazine.ca\/?p=9244"},"modified":"2021-05-14T15:02:11","modified_gmt":"2021-05-14T19:02:11","slug":"u-of-g-grads-food-waste-video-goes-viral","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/porticomagazine.ca\/2021\/05\/u-of-g-grads-food-waste-video-goes-viral\/","title":{"rendered":"U of G Grad’s Food Waste Video Goes Viral"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Does the best-before date on a food item mean that it\u2019s unsafe to eat and you should throw it out? Not according to U of G grad Hayden Fox, a fourth-generation farmer who says consumers misled by best-before labels routinely waste huge amounts of perfectly edible food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After he saw a TikTok video that recommended throwing out food on its expiration date, Fox posted his own video<\/a>. He wanted to inform consumers about what he calls a wasteful practice mostly driven by food companies\u2019 marketing efforts and consumers\u2019 misunderstanding of food labels.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

His video went viral this spring, garnering more than 1.6 million views by April 21 and drawing BuzzFeed<\/em> to post an article about the controversy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking over the phone from his family\u2019s farm in Cayuga, Ont., Fox says best-before dates refer to peak product freshness rather than spoilage. \u201cIt\u2019s not saying that once it hits that date, it\u2019s poison. I see time and time again people throw food out for no good reason, simply because of a number a manufacturer put on their item.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each person wastes about 200 pounds of food a year, he says. He urges consumers to use their senses to check food for spoilage beyond its best-before date. He also wants more people to learn about where their food comes from and how it\u2019s made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That learning can happen at farmers\u2019 markets, where consumers are more likely to encounter the people who have grown or raised the food. Ironically, he says, produce at farmers\u2019 markets often consists of seconds, as grocery stores often demand picture-perfect items for their shelves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He figures market patrons value freshness and a connection to the farm even if it means paying a bit more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His food waste concerns stem partly from his experience on the family cash crop farm, where they grow corn, wheat, soybeans and other crops. In his original video, Fox says, \u201cI literally work all year long for 60 per cent of that food to be thrown in the garbage.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As well, he learned about the topic at U of G, where he took courses that focused on food waste and food security. Those issues are central for many researchers on campus, including members of the Arrell Food Institute <\/a>that aims to find sustainable ways to feed the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fox graduated in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the BuzzFeed<\/em> article, he says, \u201cI used to live with a roommate who threw food out the moment it reached its \u2018expiration\u2019 date and it physically pained me. I studied food and agricultural business at the University of Guelph, and almost every problem that could be attributed to food insecurity stemmed from consumers being misinformed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, Fox posted a few short videos on social media intended to draw attention to food and farm issues. He purposely keeps the message light: \u201cTo educate people, you have to do it through humour.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, he says, food waste is a serious issue that isn\u2019t helped by misunderstanding or misuse of best-before dates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have enough food on the planet to feed everybody. It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t have enough. It\u2019s that the food isn\u2019t being distributed equally or that people are not informed enough.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Does the best-before date on a food item mean that it\u2019s unsafe to eat and you should throw it out? Not according to U of G grad Hayden Fox, a fourth-generation farmer who says consumers misled by best-before labels routinely waste huge amounts of perfectly edible food. After he saw a TikTok video that recommended<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":4067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[370],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nU of G Grad's Food Waste Video Goes Viral -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/porticomagazine.ca\/2021\/05\/u-of-g-grads-food-waste-video-goes-viral\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"U of G Grad's Food Waste Video Goes Viral -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Does the best-before date on a food item mean that it\u2019s unsafe to eat and you should throw it out? 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