Members of Generation Z waste more food than their parents.

Researchers claim that members of Generation Z waste more food than their parents.

This often happens because young people are confused by food expiration labels, which they trust without question. However, this is not the only reason for the careless attitude of youth towards food.

According to data from the United Nations, the world wastes enough food to feed everyone who is hungry. In total, people around the globe throw away over one billion tons of food waste each year.

Experts say that in high- and middle-income countries, Generation Z easily discards food, especially bread, vegetables, and fruits. The issue, scientists explain, is that young people have never engaged in farming (they have never grown food for themselves), have never truly experienced hunger, and have not lived in a world without expiration date labels. They are often frightened by the dangers of food poisoning and frequently encounter fake news on social media regarding various products. Researchers believe that people need to relearn how to trust their own senses of smell, sight, and taste to determine the freshness of food.

What Did the Scientists Discover?

A team from Harvard University, led by Professor Emily Broad Leib, surveyed 2,069 Americans about their reasons for throwing away food and compared the responses to a similar survey conducted in 2016.

The new study revealed that 43 percent of people always or usually discard food based solely on its expiration date. This marks a 37 percent increase from 2016. According to Professor Broad Leib, people have become “overly cautious.”

It was also found that only 57 percent of respondents correctly interpret such labels, as reported by the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, respondents aged 13 to 28 fully trust these labels. The lead researcher noted, “We found that the youngest consumers are more likely to trust date labels.” As a result, they often throw away products immediately after the specified date has passed. In contrast, their parents began buying products at a time when expiration date labels did not exist.

Professor Broad Leib believes that “for most products, it is impossible to specify an exact date after which they become unsafe.” Moreover, the indicated expiration date is often a warning signal about potential danger rather than a definitive indication of quality decline.

For example, the UK Food Standards Agency stated: “You can eat food up until midnight on the expiration date indicated on the product… After this date, the product can still be consumed, but it may no longer be of the best quality.”

Young People Don’t Want to Waste Time on Food Procurement

The team also discovered that young people living independently from their parents waste twice as much food as those who live under the same roof with older generations. Another factor influencing food waste among young people is the number of residents in a household: the more people there are, the less food is wasted.

Among the factors contributing to the careless use of food products by Generation Z, researchers also identified impulsive shopping habits and a tendency to order takeout. In other words, a society of overproduction has raised a generation that prefers the easier acquisition of food, unwilling to spend time on careful planning of purchases and meal preparation.

Speaking at the American Association for the Advancement of Science conference in Boston, Professor Broad Leib stated, “The further we move away from the times when people participated in growing, harvesting, or producing food, the more people view it as just another manufactured product.”

Of course, researchers do not believe that young people should consume expired food. Scientists simply urge them not to buy more food than they can eat.