The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) FoodKeeper app, which helps consumers reduce food waste, now includes information in Spanish and Portuguese. The app covers food storage recommendations for more than 400 foods including baby food, dairy products, eggs, meat, poultry, produce and seafood, and more.
Developed through a partnership of the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), Cornell University and the Food Marketing Institute, FoodKeeper’s goal is to reduce food waste by sharing food storage methods that extend the shelf life of the foods and beverages. Since its April 2015 launch, 
it has been downloaded more than 100,000 times, according to the USDA.
“The FoodKeeper app is a very handy and easy tool to use, and it reflects USDA’s commitment to provide consumers with information and knowledge so they can make informed decisions,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. “This app empowers people to help meet our nation’s food waste reduction goals, and it also links to our virtual food safety resources that answer common questions about how to safely handle, prepare and store foods. Adding food recall alerts to the app’s capabilities makes the FoodKeeper a top-notch tool for consumer engagement and protection.”
In addition to language options, the app now also has the ability to display temperatures, weights and measures in Imperial or Metric units. Improvements have also been made to FoodKeeper’a ability to sync with smartphone and tablet calendars and its push notification function, the agency said.
In September, the USDA plans to roll out the next improvements to the app which will include instructional videos on food handling and storage.
