Are confusing "Best by" labels contributing to food waste?

Some say confusing date labels are why huge amounts of food are thrown away every day in American households. 

Try as we may, food still gets tossed. The USDA estimates nearly 40% of the food we buy ends up in the trash.

Part of the problem is confusion over food date labels. There are a lot. "Use by" seems pretty clear, but then there are "Best if used by," "Enjoy by" and "Sell by."

"So you have a sell-by date, which means a store has to sell it by that date. But a customer takes that home, has no clue how long that product is good for," said Barbara Bucknam, a food safety expert. 

More often than not, the food ends up in a landfill. Food waste is bad for the environment and incredibly expensive, experts added.