Food Expiration Dates

[Gameface]

https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/19/health/sell-by-dates-waste-food/index.html?hpt=hp_bn13

(TIME.com) -- Use-by dates are contributing to millions of pounds of wasted food each year.

A new report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Harvard Law School's Food Law and Policy Clinic says Americans are prematurely throwing out food, largely because of confusion over what expiration dates actually mean. Most consumers mistakenly believe that expiration dates on food indicate how safe the food is to consume, when these dates actually aren't related to the risk of food poisoning or foodborne illness.

Food dating emerged in the 1970s, prompted by consumer demand as Americans produced less of their own food but still demanded information about how it was made. The dates solely indicate freshness, and are used by manufacturers to convey when the product is at its peak. That means the food does not expire in the sense of becoming inedible.

I kind of hate expiration dates. People see food past the date and think the food is now tainted. Bacteria is what makes food go bad, and the bacteria has not been informed of the date upon which they are supposed to strike. So many factors go into when food will go bad and the best way to tell if food is bad is by smelling it and then tasting it. If it doesn't smell bad or taste bad it isn't bad, regardless of what date is on the package. Those dates are mostly for inventory control at the grocery store, and for that they are a good thing, but they have almost nothing to do with when food will go bad.

 

[franklin]

Paying good attention to hard expiration dates isn't a bad idea. "Best Buy" is where plenty wiggle room comes in.

 

[♪alt13]

Paying good attention to hard expiration dates isn't a bad idea. "Best Buy" is where plenty wiggle room comes in.

What hard expiration dates?

I find expiration dates useful to know what I should throw in the freezer.
Oops I bought too much blank and now some of it is almost expired. I'll throw it in the freezer so that it will be good when I need it.

 

[LogGrad98]

A lot of this is driven by litigation, or rather the fear of litigation. Companies post these things to make sure they cannot be held liable when some moron pours chunky milk 3 months later and gets sick from it then sues because they were too stupid to know that if it smells like cheese and shouldn't then maybe they shouldn't consume it. The "reasonable person" seems to be getting dumber and dumber.

 

[moevillini]

Paying good attention to hard expiration dates isn't a bad idea. "Best Buy" is where plenty wiggle room comes in.

do you mean "best used by xxxx" ?
Or are you looking for perishables at Best Buy?


and then again there's the stuff you buy with "use by" dates that are 2 or 3 years ahead - that seems just as suspicious to me.

 

[franklin]

do you mean "best used by xxxx" ?
Or are you looking for perishables at Best Buy?


and then again there's the stuff you buy with "use by" dates that are 2 or 3 years ahead - that seems just as suspicious to me.

I heard "use by" is just a rumor that originated in the Los Angeles area.



*That one took me a minute to fully get, Moeseph.