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This is Scientific American 60-second Science, I'm Jared Rizzi.

这里是科学美国人——60秒科学系列，我是贾里德·里吉。

"Best before," "sell by," "for best results, use by." You probably have many of these labels on items in your fridge and pantry right now.

“最佳食用日期”、“贩卖期限（保质期）”、“最佳使用期限”。现在你的冰箱和食品储藏室里的物品上可能有许多这种标签。

"A lot of behavior on what you throw away and how you consume food, a lot of people go off what's on the label. And so what we're looking at is trying to shift behavior, trying to make consistency¹ in terms of how foods are labeled so that we can avoid waste and avoid people throwing away products that are perfectly² good to eat."

“标签上写着扔掉哪些食物和如何食用食物的大量行为指导，但很多人对标签上的内容不以为然。因此，我们正在努力改变人们的行为，努力使食物的标签方式保持一致，这样我们就可以避免浪费，避免人们扔掉可完美食用的产品。”

Pete Pearson is the senior director for food loss and waste at World Wildlife Fund.

世界野生动物基金会负责食品损失和浪费的高级主管皮特·皮尔森说到。

"Seventy percent or more of the biodiversity loss on the planet is attributed to food and agriculture."

“地球上70%或更多的生物多样性损失要归咎于食品和农业。”

The Natural Resources Defense³ Council estimates that 40 percent of all food in the United States goes uneaten. That translates to some $218 billion in wasted money annually⁴. Beyond the hit to the wallet, food waste in landfills creates methane⁵, which is a more potent⁶ greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. And these figures don't include a full accounting⁷ of the accumulated waste producing and transporting food that we don't eat; water and fertilizer; maintenance of animal habitats; and fuel.

美国自然资源保护委员会估计，美国40%的食物没有被食用。这相当于每年浪费2180亿美元。除了浪费钱以外，垃圾填埋场的食物垃圾还会产生甲烷，这是一种比二氧化碳危害更大的温室气体。这些数字不包括生产和运输我们不吃的食物所造成的累积废料、水、肥料、维护动物栖息地以及燃料等完整统计。

"And often, because of labeling and consumer behavior, we throw it away, and it's still perfectly good to eat."

“通常，由于标签和消费者行为，我们会将仍可以完美食用的食物扔掉。”

Another part of the solution could come from the bipartisan Food Date Labeling Act, which would expand federal standards on expiration⁸ dates from just baby formula now to most everything else. The bill is making its way through Congress and could streamline⁹ what you see when you're shopping. Part of the goal? To reduce customer confusion.

解决方案的另一部分可能来自两党制定的《食品日期标签法案》，该法案将把有效期限的联邦标准从婴儿奶粉扩展到几乎一切食物。这项法案目前正在国会进行审议，可能简化大家在购物时看到的东西。目标为何？减少顾客的困惑。

"What they're trying to do is introduce a series of binding¹⁰ federal standards. In some cases, this is done by states and local jurisdictions¹¹. And so what you have is a big confusion and inconsistency in terms of the language."

“他们在试图引入一系列具有约束力的联邦标准。在某些情况下，这由各州和地方司法管辖区完成。因此，在语言上可能存在很大的混淆和不一致。”

The House bill recommends a label of "Best if Used by" for when a product's quality or freshness may start to worsen and then "Use by" for when it's definitely time to get rid of it. And Pearson recommends, well, a little bravery:

这份众议院法案建议用“最佳食用日期”表示产品的质量或新鲜度开始变差的时间，用“食用期限”表示绝对应该扔掉的时间。而皮尔森的建议则要更大胆一些：

"So I found that as a food-waste leader and the director of a program, I find that I'm eating a lot of foods that most people probably wouldn't. And we need more food-waste warriors¹². We need people that are willing to cut the mold off of cheese or scrape some fuzz out of the sour cream. Because it's not gonna detract anything from the actual product. And you will survive; you're not gonna die. And you're gonna save food and help save the environment in the process."

“我发现，作为食物废弃问题的领导者以及项目负责人，我吃掉了很多大多数人可能不会吃的食物。我们需要更多食物废弃方面的勇士。我们需要愿意将奶酪上的霉菌切掉或将酸奶油上的绒毛刮掉的人。因为这不会损坏实际产品的任何东西。你会活下来，你不会死。而且在这个过程中，你会节约食物，帮助保护环境。”

Thanks for listening for Scientific American — 60-Second Science. I'm Jared Rizzi.

谢谢大家收听科学美国人——60秒科学。我是贾里德·里吉。