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Comment by keerthiko | Hacker News Reader

If it knows when and where for everything about an ingredient, it probably also knows the tagged expiry/best-before. It's easy to play it safe and just reject everything past expiry, even if it need not actually have gone bad. And consumers who prioritize contamination safety (not everyone believes expiry dates, but many do) can respect that.

There are cases where something can go bad before its expiry date, due to improper storage, but storage conditions until food reaches given appliance could be tracked too to account for that.

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But fresh fruit in particular doesn't rot at a uniform rate. You can pick two peaches from the same tree at the same time with the same appereant ripeness, store them in identical conditions, and have them go bad on different days.

There are low-tech versions of spoilage alert. oxygen sensitive stickers that change color if too much o2 detected inside the package..

However - there is one food label that I have always wanted on meats: slaughter date, freeze/pack date, sell date, cook date, eat date.

So if I go to the store and there is meat in the freezer - when was that meat caught/slaughtered/packed/frozen.

Am I eating something a year old?

If you had that labeling - I would be willing to bet that healthier eating habits would ensue - not that the meat industry would prefer it though..

I eat year+ old beef all the time: I buy an entire year's supply at once and freeze it. Tastes fine.

What I really would like is a "picked on" label on fruits & vegetables. A cucumber from my garden is fine 3 weeks after picking. One from the grocery store is barely edible a few days after purchase.

I didnt word that as clearly as I meant;

I just think that each step in the processing of food should be transparent.

Has frozen food sat in various places far longer than expected?

Expiration dates are more for best taste rather than food safety. You're able to tell when fruits/veggies go rotten with your eyes, nose, and mouth.

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