'Best by' and 'Use by' dates

[Chuckanut]

I am not sure if this post should be in Fire and Money, since it may save us a few dollars, Health since it is about products that may or may not be unhealthy, or Miscellaneous since I am not sure where to put it.

I have long suspected that consumers are encouraged to toss out perfectly good food because manufacturers put a 'Best before' date on the product, versus a 'Use by' date.

there’s a big difference between a “use by” and a “best before” date; the former is a sign that the food may be unsafe to eat after a certain date (though even that’s not always true) while the latter is an indicator that the item might not taste its best after that date, but is still safe to eat.

Here is an article concerning this problem and what one guy plans to do about it.

http://consumerist.com/2014/05/16/r...tes-result-in-massive-amounts-of-wasted-food/

Ex Trader Joe’s President To Sell Food Past Its Sell-By Date, But Don’t Call It ‘Expired’ – Consumerist

 

[travelover]

I found a little store in Oregon, near where I visit twice yearly, that is stocked with expired and near expired food. It is dirt cheap and I've never had a bad experience with any that I have bought. While there, I eat their products then bring home lots of energy bars to last me until the next trip.

 

[Nodak]

When I see an expiration date on bottled water it makes me question the dates on many products.

 

[Lcountz]

If it still smells OK, is not moldy, or curdled, I cook it, toast it or otherwise eat it.

IT's ridiculous to throw out food that is in most cases still good to eat because of a date, in my opinion.

I think it's a ploy to get the unquestioning masses to spend more money than they must on canned, bottled, frozen or even fresh stuff like bread.

Stalish bread is fine toasted. Yogurt is spoiled to begin with!! So is cheese.

I agree about the bottled water with an expiration date on it. Crazy!!!!!! People in some countries drink water right out of the river!!! ( and yes I know about disease, etc, but if it was so bad, we all wouldn't be here today!)

My fridge is set on very cold, because I like milk cold. 0 or 1% milk has so little fat it takes FOREVER for it to spoil when kept cold....I many times use milk well past it's date.

In some countries, they hang fresh meat and fish in the sun to cure, and people purchase a piece of it, cut from the fly blown carcass.....and we toss out meat if it's one day past it's sell-by date......in a refrigerator case, wrapped in plastic, no odor, no off color...just the sell-by date is past!!!!!

I always check in my market for the meat with the 2-3 dollars off stickers on them, mostly because they are approaching their last sell by date. I notice others are starting to do that too. I have NEVER gotten bad food or ill from this practice.

 

[Walt34]

I always check in my market for the meat with the 2-3 dollars off stickers on them, mostly because they are approaching their last sell by date. I notice others are starting to do that too. I have NEVER gotten bad food or ill from this practice.

I do that too, and make sure to cook or freeze it within a day or two.

Another myth is for frozen products, almost all of which carry the warning "Do not refreeze if thawed". Unless it's spoiled refreezing is fine. What happens it that it MIGHT be a little less crunchy for vegetables because the freezing/thaw/refreezing breaks down the cell walls and it might be a bit mushy tasting. But that has no effect whatsoever on the safety or nutritional value.

But use common sense. If it sat in the freezer for a week with the power off then yeah, pitch it.

 

[LongPrime]

There is a difference.
Best by: Some products are shelf-stable. They don't spoil but the product does degrade.
Use by: Some products are not shelf stable and they spoil.

and then there are, Twinkies and Tootsie Rolls

 

[bUU]

When I see an expiration date on bottled water it makes me question the dates on many products.

There are a few things about water, especially spring water, that warrant an expiration date - not necessarily for safety, but for taste.

I think it's a ploy to get the unquestioning masses to spend more money than they must on canned, bottled, frozen or even fresh stuff like bread.

I don't see any reason for assuming the most nefarious intentions (especially after working with people making such decisions in my earlier career). There are far more rational and immediate considerations. For "Best By", I can more readily believe that the intention is to guard against quality complaints. If, for example, you're concerned that the jam no longer as that nice consistency it has when the jar is first opened, and you're beyond the "Best By" date, then I think most reasonable people would not pursue a quality complaint, or even hold a negative opinion of quality, against the manufacturer of the jam. For "Use By", the need is even more critical: If processes can only assure safety for a certain period of time, with a variance +/- a certain period of time, then you had better make your "Use By" date at least 10% sooner than that certain period of time minus the variance. Otherwise, you're opening yourself up to a lot of frivolous lawsuits and bad PR.

 

[MichaelB]

I usually throw out fresh food only if it smells bad and use canned goods months, but not years, past their expiration dates. Same with medicines.

 

[Bestwifeever]

MIL's pantry contained lots of items five or more years past the best-by dates (and what about the packing codes some mfrs use instead? Grrr).

Besides 6.5 oz coke bottles, I can remember how much cheaper the "day-old" bread was that my mother always bought (and not bakery bread, but Wonder Bread). Now our bread has a sell-by date several days away.

 

[Tadpole]

Well, best/use by dates probably do bring about more rotation of goods at the grocery store (older packages brought to the front).

But things have changed. When I was a kid you sometimes could buy spoiled hotdogs and canned goods at the local grocer. That is harder when dates are placed on packages. If you have ever met a spoiled hotdog you will never forget it.

Of course, one only hopes that when the grocer finds that package of raw chicken that is sitting on the soup shelf that he/she throws the chicken away and cleans the soup shelf.

 

[rbmrtn]

I always check in my market for the meat with the 2-3 dollars off stickers on them, mostly because they are approaching their last sell by date. I notice others are starting to do that too. I have NEVER gotten bad food or ill from this practice.

I like to do this as well. Just got some porter house steak for $3.99/lb. I usually get ground beef/pork for 0.99 cents/lb. wrap it up and put in the freezer.

I've used many canned items well beyond ( years ) the BBD. Grandma canned all sorts of things, she put the date it was canned on them, never used a BBD.

Better than bottled water is salt... come on, it's a mineral sitting the ground for thousands of years. You dig it up, box it and put a BBD on it ?

FWIW... I believe there are FDA rules/guidelines that requires some of what has to be put on for BBD and use by dates.

 

[Midpack]

From my years dealing with customers, I'm a little less cynical about the practice, and I am thankful food/perishable goods provide 'best/use by' dates. I use them to make sure I am buying the freshest/fresh products while shopping, I think that's the primary purpose of expiration dates. It protects consumers and manufacturers from (middle) merchants who might try to sell old goods without your knowledge. Unfortunately manufacturers probably need them to help avoid claims by consumers who've used an out of date product.

Like others here, I rarely if ever use them at home to determine what to use/not use.

As usual, there's two sides to most stories...

 

[jerome len]

I always throuw away milk and milk products by date on package.....other stuff can last a lot longer......meat......I use or freeze by end date.

 

[Midpack]

You Just Threw Out a Perfectly Good Gallon of Milk Because You Think the "Sell By" Date Means Something | Mother Jones

Admit it: When you see milk past the "sell by" date in your fridge you're apt to skip the smell test and throw that stuff out. What you might not know is that the date is actually meant for store stockers to keep track of product rotation. It offers little indication of when the milk may actually sour. You wouldn't be alone in tossing out perfectly good milk. Nine out of 10 Americans needlessly throw away edible, unspoiled food based on "use by," "sell by," and "best before" labels, according to a report released today by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School.

Here in America: Roughly 40 percent of our food goes uneaten, amounting to an economic loss of $165 billion a year, the NRDC reported in 2012. The authors of this week's analysis found that much of that waste is due to "misinterpretation" of the date labels.

"The average household is losing up to $450 on food each year because they don't understand the labels," said co-author Dana Gunders, an NRDC food & agriculture staff scientist, during a press call Wednesday morning. It's a travesty, she added, especially when one in six Americans are "food insecure."

We still have some food waste, but much less than when we were both working, and cooking less (ingredient) efficiently.

 

[CoolChange]

Old Greens

I am glad to see that I am not alone in ignoring most of these dates. (I have had plenty of skim milk kept in a cold fridge well past the date stamped on the jug.)

Along a similar vein but not as clear cut to me, slightly wilted or even slimy greens (spinach, kale, lettuce, etc.): Is this safe to eat?

Generally, as long as the odor isn't too bad, I just rinse thoroughly and toss into my salad. Am I taking a significant chance with my health by doing this?

I did recently learn that a soak in water with just a bit of plain, cheap white vinigar will really brighten up some of these slightly wilted greens.

 

[pjm-7]

Most of us on here are of "boomer" age (give or take a few years). There never used to be any dates on products, and guess what, we survived. If a product is unopened, not leaking, and kept at the proper temperature for the item it is just fine. It is estimated that in the U.S. over 20% of our food budgets are waste.

 

[ERD50]

You Just Threw Out a Perfectly Good Gallon of Milk Because You Think the "Sell By" Date Means Something | Mother Jones


We still have some food waste, but much less than when we were both working, and cooking less (ingredient) efficiently.

From that excerpt:

Admit it: When you see milk past the "sell by" date in your fridge you're apt to skip the smell test and throw that stuff out. What you might not know is that the date is actually meant for store stockers to keep track of product rotation. It offers little indication of when the milk may actually sour.

True enough, but....

That 'sell by' date depends on the milk remaining sealed on the shelf. It was sealed under very sanitary conditions. But if you take it home and open it, you have now exposed the milk to the environment, and spoilage starts taking place.

Sure, if you brought it home, and did not open it, it should still be good up to, and slightly past the 'sell by' date. But, if you brought it home two weeks before the 'sell by date' (I forget offhand how far forward the milk dates are), and opened it that day, it could go bad before the 'sell by' date.

So.... 'it depends'.


-ERD50

 

[omni550]

When I see an expiration date on bottled water it makes me question the dates on many products.

There are a few things about water, especially spring water, that warrant an expiration date - not necessarily for safety, but for taste.

A while ago, I had purchased a case of spring water to keep on hand. I grabbed a bottle to take along with me as I was going to a training seminar. While I was sitting in the seminar, taking a swig now and then, I was majorly discomfited to see a large glob of what looked like black slime floating around within the water so, at the next break, I discarded the bottle and contents. I called the bottling company's customer service to complain and they said that's what happens with "old" (past the sell-by date) spring water. (I checked the "sell by" date on the remaining bottles, and, yes, they had "expired". Some contained the black goo and some did not. I pitched them all. )

The bottling company did send me some cents-off coupons as a friendly gesture. But I couldn't bear the thought of buying more of their water.

I didn't get sick, but I don't know how much, if any, of the black goo I had ingested.

omni

 

[MRG]

A while ago, I had purchased a case of spring water to keep on hand. I grabbed a bottle to take along with me as I was going to a training seminar. While I was sitting in the seminar, taking a swig now and then, I was majorly discomfited to see a large glob of what looked like black slime floating around within the water so, at the next break, I discarded the bottle and contents. I called the bottling company's customer service to complain and they said that's what happens with "old" (past the sell-by date) spring water. (I checked the "sell by" date on the remaining bottles, and, yes, they had "expired". Some contained the black goo and some did not. I pitched them all. )

The bottling company did send me some cents-off coupons as a friendly gesture. But I couldn't bear the thought of buying more of their water.

I didn't get sick, but I don't know how much, if any, of the black goo I had ingested.

omni

Similiar experience, no black stuff, but the water smelled. Contacted customer servive, checked date old. They asked what it smells like, told them dirty feet.
MRG

 

[bUU]

Sounds like the mineralization (which makes water taste good) came out of solution. Yuck. I didn't think that happened with spring water, but rather only with reverse osmosis purified and remineralized bottled water.

 

[ERD50]

I was aware that they recommended rotating any water you store for emergencies, though it does seem odd. But I'm especially surprised that purchased/sealed water would go 'bad'. I just would not think there would be enough 'stuff' in there to feed any microorganisms to a degree that you could see/taste/smell the effects. And while it would not be 'sterilized', it should be very sanitary, and there would not be much in there to kill off in the first place. I wonder what's going on?

If it were just minerals coming out of solution, I would think that would just be some small amount of sediment, and I wouldn't expect it to taste bad.

I know there are bacteria that feed on iron in water, but I don't think they cause taste problems in small quantities (I wouldn't expect bottled water to be high in iron, it really doesn't taste good to most people), and I don't think they are dangerous either.

I've got about about 25 gallons of water stored away in the basement, fortunately it has all been boiled, and contains some alcohol and hop oils and the pH is low enough to keep it shelf stable for a long time. I also am good at rotating and replenishing my stock on a regular (~daily) basis. Tonight, I think I'll have some 'Koelsh water' with dinner.

-ERD50

 

[aim-high]

I'm kind of Monkish when it comes to "best before" and "use by" dates. In fact, my wife continually tells me she is going to write "Expired on" on my tombstone.