Instant effects decay: Re-examining the impact of information intervention on consumers’ food date label cognition and food waste behavior

The global food waste crisis has emerged as a pressing sustainability challenge, an accurate understanding of food date labels presents a critical opportunity for reducing global food waste. However, current empirical research has paid limited attention to this pathway due to challenges in data acquisition, and longitudinal evidence remains particularly scarce. To address this research gap, this study collects three-stage balanced panel data ( N =1,206) tracking consumers’ food date label cognition and food waste behaviors over 1.5 years, and yields three key findings: (1) Information interventions maintain significant effectiveness during the follow-up period, with persistent cognition differences between intervention and control groups; (2) while impactful, intervention effects exhibit notable temporal decay, suggesting the need for periodic reinforcement to sustain label cognitive and food waste behavioral changes; (3) intervention strategies should prioritize three key demographics: consumers in warmer southern regions (where food perishability is higher), female consumers (typically responsible for household food management), and focusing on perishable foods may offer particularly effective pathways for reducing food waste. These findings provide empirical evidence for designing more effective, sustained intervention programs to improve date label interpreting and reduce food waste to achieve United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 “Halve Food Waste” before 2030.