[SilasX]

Agreed. In this case, a better title would be "California replaces 'Sell by' Labels with 'Use by', Hoping to Cut Food Waste"

Still a simplification, but doesn't horribly mislead you into thinking it's a reckless policy.

[paleotrope]

How does this change affect food waste by consumers?

[SilasX]

For the reason the article gives: products would be labeled with the thing that actually matters for safely maximizing producing usage -- how long it's safe to actually use the product ("use by") -- rather than a cruder heuristic about when you should sell it, or vague language about when it's "best".