This is what an expert told me about food expiration dates
Expiration dates can be a source of stress, and that stress can cause you to throw away perfectly edible food. Expiration dates are usually on the safe side, meaning your food won’t spoil just because the date has passed.
While you shouldn’t push the boundaries too far, on balance we all throw away more food than necessary, all of which leads to greater food scarcity and rising costs.
If you want to prevent food waste—and keep more dollars in your pocket—you’ll want to better understand what these food expiration dates actually mean.
“I saw it statistics showing that consumers throw away up to $1,300 per year,” said Christopher Greco, CEO of Shop wisea software platform for independent grocers with whom I spoke about food expiration dates. In fact, Americans produce 325 kilos of food waste per person, per year. Much of this food waste can be attributed to the disposal of food that may still be safe for consumption, but has passed its printed expiration date.
Who determines the expiration date of food?
Once the seal on the package is broken, the best before and expiry dates no longer apply.
“Expiration dates are a matter of both quality and safety,” says Greco. On the one hand, producers and manufacturers want you to experience their products in the best possible condition in terms of taste and texture, and on the other hand, they want to reduce the risk of possible foodborne illness.
Read more: How to preserve and store fresh herbs
Some products, such as dairy products, have a relatively short shelf life and the expiration date quickly approaches when you take them home from the store. Others, such as canned and preserved products, can remain on store shelves or in your pantry or refrigerator for quite some time, perhaps even years.
There is a lot of nuance surrounding the expiration date of food
If the expiration date is several years ago, it is wise to wrap the package.
There is a lot of nuance, both in terms of quality and safety, regarding expiration dates, especially for products that naturally have a shorter shelf life.
Greco walks us through a variety of scenarios for a common household product with a shelf life in the near future, milk, where both storage and transportation variables can affect its condition even after the shelf life is already printed on the package. “You might have a different profile if the milk was placed in the supermarket by the distributor and left unrefrigerated in the back for 20 to 30 minutes before being put away,” he says. “If you were to buy that milk in South Florida, where it’s 100 degrees, and you drive 30 minutes home, that also affects the quality.”
Best before date, best before date, best before date and best before date
You can usually find the expiration dates for cans on the bottom.
Expiration dates can also be printed with different words, which involves different considerations and is more about quality than safety. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection ServiceThese are the meanings behind the different labels:
- A “Best if used by/before” The date indicates when a product will have the best taste or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
- A “Sell by” Date tells the store how long to display the product for sale for inventory management. It’s not a safety date.
- A “Use by” date is the last recommended date for use of the product at peak quality. It is not a safety date (except when used on infant formula).
- A “Freeze-by” The date indicates when a product must be frozen to maintain top quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
Several factors contribute to how long food remains safe to eat, including storage, packaging and environment.
These phrases can be useful guidelines for consumers, but it is important to note that, except for the case of infant formula, expiration dates are not required by federal law. As stated above, none of these relate to a question of safety when it comes to consumption. They may even confuse some consumers into believing that their food has been thrown away, even when it has not.
In short, you will have to rely on your senses anyway, including your common sense, to determine whether food is safe to consume.
Use common sense
Some foods take longer than you might think, but others have a faster shelf life. For example, olive oil does not remain fresh for more than a few months after opening.
“I think a lot of consumers have a hard and fast rule when it comes to expiration dates, where they think if it’s now the 28th or 29th and something has expired on the 27th, then they should throw it away,” says Greco, but that’s not always, or even usually, the case. “You have to at least smell it and maybe taste it, and it might still be good.”
On the other hand, it is an important habit to acquire anyway, because even before the expiration date has passed, you may suspect that something has changed. Given a variety of transportation and storage scenarios, the expiration date may become meaningless and, as noted above, may not reflect any federal regulations.
Even the USDA recommends this course of action: “The quality of perishable products may deteriorate after the expiration date; however, such products should still be safe if handled properly. Consumers should evaluate the quality of the product before using it. is consumed to determine whether its quality product shows signs of spoilage.” You can handle food properly by putting it away as soon as you get home, knowing where the coldest areas in your refrigerator are, keeping different types of food separated, using appropriate storage containers and not overfilling them to start.
I bought this chicken on March 11th, but the sell-by date was still a week away.
Read more: Chicken labels are confusing. This is what they do (and don’t) mean
Some items are clearly spoiled if they show signs of mold or deterioration, or if the odor becomes unpleasant. (Even if there is some mold on it, you probably don’t need to throw away your cheese.) Items with a natural preservative quality, such as cheese, pickled or high vinegar products, or other preserved products such as jam, are much more likely to become unpalatable or bland in taste before becoming unsafe.
Personal shopping helps combat expiration dates and food waste
Expired meat and seafood are more likely to cause problems than most other groceries.
Greco notes that our shopping habits also play a role when it comes to potentially throwing away untouched food. “Part of what also contributes to food waste is the lack of frequency of in-store shopping,” he says. While bulk purchases can help save money on some products, trying to plan a menu or stock up for weeks or months at a time, rather than just a few days, tends to result in having too much food on hand , which can be difficult to use before it actually starts to reverse, regardless of the expiration date.
If you are someone who still feels compelled to throw away items out of excessive caution based on the expiration date, visiting your local grocer more often can help you better store the groceries in your refrigerator and preserve the money in your account .
If you know you’re dealing with expired food (moldy, old, discolored, or curdled), you can always use a countertop composter to keep organic waste out of the landfill. But before you decide to throw it away, brush up on some skills to help distinguish when food is and isn’t past its expiration date, so you don’t throw away perfectly good food.
Frequently asked questions
What are the different dates on a food product for?
Best before, use by, sell by and sell by dates are important markers to indicate top quality or manage inventory, and consumers still get a lot of value from having them printed on a product. But none of these dates indicate food spoilage, and it’s up to your common sense to decide when to throw something away.
Is a product always good after the expiration date?
No. While it’s worth testing every food product you own before throwing it away to avoid food waste, a product isn’t always good past its expiration date. It may even be the case that a food product spoils before the date stated on the packaging. Ultimately, it is up to your common sense to decide whether a particular food item is edible or whether it should be thrown in the trash.
