In any case I think the new way is better.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-11-03/...

I wonder how many they've added in 5 years. Do all these laws improve peoples lives?

All it does is standardize "sell by" labels to be more transparent. The extent of the ban is the explicit phrasing "Sell By" which is itself confusing since the manufacturer has some estimated consumption interval that is tacked onto their actual expiration date. Sell By gives the customer has no idea how much padding they are adding to their estimate and when the thing actually goes bad.

All this law really does is it standardizes the labels manufacturers can use to "BEST if Used by" for quality concerns or "USE by" for safety concerns. A lot of manufacturers already do this, so it is a pretty minimal law There are probably more pressing issues in Sacramento, but a small improvement is always welcome.

...

> Under the state’s bill, “sell by” dates can still be included on products as long as they are “coded” — information that is aimed at retailers rather than consumers.

This is about obfuscating "sell by" dates so customers don't get confused. They might not necessarily add another date you can read easily. Then if the grocery store forgets to replace old stock, you will never know.

But maybe someone can write an app to read the codes?

Absorbent pad adds to the price also hides the "purge".

Harder to find meat without thousand poked holes (tenderizing)

Can't tell if meat are colorized to hide browness.

Time for me to visit my local butcher for a quarter cow, butchered.

Also a bigger freezer chest too!

"Packed On" or "Processed On" is the most accurate way to label meat, IMHO.