What Do Grocery Stores Do With Expired Food?

Grocery stores carry a lot of food. If you don't believe us, consider taking a mental inventory the next time you're puttering around Whole Foods while shopping for groceries. Frankly, when you consider it, the sheer depth and variety of food found within that or any other supermarket is apt to blow your mind. Of course, if you simultaneously find yourself wondering how any store could conceivably sell all that food before it expires, well ... it turns out that grocery stores can't figure it out, either.

Since grocery stores tend to overstock items (particularly produce) to accommodate and appeal to 21st-century consumers (many of whom are accustomed to having any food item available at all times), it's not exactly a mystery how or why a store may find itself with a surplus of expired food. Yet the question of what happens to that expired food once it's no longer viable for sale at a grocery store remains — and is a bit more complicated to unravel.

Given the devastating amount of food waste that piles up each year in the U.S., you may presume grocery stores simply chuck expired food into the dumpster. But that's only a small piece of the puzzle. In fact, there are numerous avenues available to grocery stores when it comes to discarding expired foods. We decided to gather a list of the most common outcomes, and without further ado, provide you with answers to the question: what do grocery stores do with expired food?

Somehow, in 2021, there were still 33.8 million people living in food-insecure homes in the U.S. While the nature of capitalism means that less-fortunate and underfed individuals may always be present in this nation, many are unwilling to turn a blind eye towards those in need. That's a belief shared by many grocery stores. When a grocery store finds itself overrun with expired (or soon-to-be expired) foods that remain safe to eat, that business may end up donating a big chunk of it to different food banks and charities.

We can't imagine this is a shocking revelation by any means. After all, expired food products (or items with similar printed-on dates, such as best-by, or use-by dates) that are deemed unfit for sale aren't necessarily unsafe to eat. Depending on the food in question, there may be little-to-no discernable difference in quality, even if the food is several weeks or more beyond the supposed expiration date.

Additionally, since expired food generally represents a sunk cost for businesses, donating expired (but still edible) food may generate public goodwill for a company. That may not be the main driving force behind a grocery chain's food donations, especially given that stores can enjoy a tax break for such donations. At the same time, one can't help but think that Walmart's donation of 696 million pounds of food to U.S. charities in 2022 was as much about appearances as it was empathy.

While some folks prefer to go about their lives pretending that humans' worldwide oil consumption can continue unabated for time eternal, the fact that the Earth will one day run out of oil (and all other fossil fuels) is unavoidable. Thankfully, not all of humanity has been sitting by idly waiting for that to happen. Quite a few have developed pathways to alternative (and often renewable) energy sources that have been utilized in recent decades. These include organic fuels, such as those made with certain expired foods from the grocery store.

The use of expired foods as fuel appears less limited than many had initially expected, as this isn't exclusively the purview of produce. Other items like damaged (and expired) canned goods or spoiled milk can also be converted into fuel through a process known as anaerobic digestion. Currently, however, the equipment needed to do the digesting into fuel is expensive and may present both a financial and policy speedbump to hopeful recyclers.

It's not clear how many grocery stores donate expired food products to be repurposed as fuel. But since some Walmart stores across the globe appear to make use of this option, as per the company's corporate sustainability page, it may just be a matter of time before other stores begin to consistently utilize this outlet for expired foods, as well.

Most readers are well aware that companies often use different terminology in place of expiration dates to dictate when a product should be used. Whether these are meant to deceive consumers into falsely believing an item is no longer good to eat, we can't say. But since grocery stores are aware of these labeling tricks, some choose to continue selling certain "expired" products beyond that date.

Perhaps you presumed this sort of practice would be illegal, but in many states, it's perfectly fine for a store to sell foods that may or may not be expired, so long as it doesn't attempt to hide the date printed on a package. A store selling a four-pack of Oikos Greek yogurt three weeks after the printed-on expiration date (or a use-by date, or any other printed suggestion) may not even remotely be breaking the law in some states, such as in North Carolina.

Grocery stores are unlikely to continue selling a majority of expired (or seemingly expired) foods. But the fact it's often allowed by law means a grocery store can continue selling those foods if it so chooses, so keep your eyes peeled if that bothers you.

Online marketplaces are ripe for untoward activity. Vendors looking to sell their goods to interested buyers often turn to trusted online marketplace sites like Amazon (a little company you may have heard of). Of course, while Amazon does its best to ensure all sales are completely on the level, bad-faith vendors still pop up, like those who use the site to sell expired food to unknowing customers.

To be clear, it doesn't appear Amazon was directly involved in the sale of expired foods through its website (these included several genuinely unsafe food items such as baby formula and coffee creamer). But, as of 2020, CNBC reported that the company continued to struggle with eliminating third-party vendors eager to unload egregiously-expired foods on unsuspecting customers. Amazon told CNBC it was an isolated issue, but it's not clear that Amazon has cracked down on the problem. If you're purchasing food items from a sketchy vendor on Amazon, then you ought to be prepared to potentially receive expired foods through the mail.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates that nearly a third of food waste happens at the retail level, often the result of overstock. Fortunately, technology has come to the rescue, hooking up places that have overstock and soon-to-be expired foodstuff with customers who want to buy the food at a discount. While some apps connect consumers specifically with restaurants getting rid of their end-of-the-day leftovers, apps like Flashfood and Too Good To Go also help to relieve waste at the grocery store. Participating locations are somewhat limited so be sure to check for availability in your area.

In some cases, consumers don't know what kinds of foods they'll get. Participants may get surprise bags that cost about $6 or less. These bags contain the overstock for the day, usually from local restaurants. The Flashfood app, on the other hand, reveals what a grocery store has to offer. The consumer pays for items on the app and then picks them up at the store later. Most excitingly, aside from reducing the amount of food that goes into the landfills each year, consumers get some really incredible deals at the grocery store –- up to 70% or more in some cases -– all because they're willing to download an app that connects them with still-edible food that would have ended up in the trash bin instead of on the dinner table.