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Entry bubble Deciphering Food Expiration Dates

By: Nancy | February 21, 2008 | Category: Health

supermarket dairy departmentI couldn't make out the words from the next room, but the tone of my coworker Arlene's voice on my answering machine sounded pretty urgent. I rewound and listened:

"Girl, you HAVE to blog about this. I was in the store today and was thinking about expiration dates on food. There's the 'sell by' date. The 'use by' date. And the plain old expiration date. HOW CONFUSING!"

I'm with ya, Arlene. Apart from giving everything the sniff test before venturing a sip or a nibble, how do you know what's truly out of date and what's ok? This calls for some definitions.

Sell by/pull by date: This is the date that stores pay attention to. If an item hasn't sold by this date, they're supposed to pull it from the shelves. Don't be afraid to buy something on or right before its 'sell by' date; it'll still be good for a while if it's stored properly. How long? That depends on the item. More on that in a minute.

Best if used before/by: Until this date, your food's guaranteed to be at peak freshness if it's been properly stored. After that date, it'll still be safe to consume for a while but the quality won't be as high. So your OJ won't have that "fresh-squeezed taste" anymore. And if you've ever taken a swig of diet soda after the 'best by' date stamped on the bottle, you're familiar with the unmistakable taste of decomposing artificial sweetener. Yum.

Expiration date: This is your food's last hurrah. If you haven't consumed it by this date, toss it. It could make you sick if you try eating or drinking it.

Ok, now how long can you safely keep eating those foods beyond their 'sell by' and 'best by' dates? Got a couple charts for you:

The Cold Storage chart covers eggs and meat and the Foods Purchased Refrigerated chart covers juice, milk-based dairy products, fish and canned goods. Since most food dating is optional—only baby food and formula are required by federal regulations to have "use by" dates—consider printing out those charts and keeping them handy in your kitchen or pantry.

I did a quick tour of my fridge using the charts, and came across a carton of yogurt that I should have eaten last fall. Oops! What's the oldiest-moldiest thing you've ever found in your fridge at home or at work?

| Post a Comment | View Comments [15] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: expiration   food   nancy  

Comments (15):

blue comment bubble Posted by Anonymous on February 21, 2008 at 10:40 AM EST

Thank you for today's post. Just like to add that shoppers should be mindful of these dates when they're doing their grocery shopping. I can't count the number of times I've reached for my favorite products on the store shelves, only to find they've reached their expiration dates--and it's not just the refrigerated stuff. The dry goods like package mixes can months out of date!

When you think about it, it's kinda scary to think about how short the shelf life of diet soda is. It goes bad pretty quick. You gotta wonder what it's doing to our insides.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Carolyn on February 21, 2008 at 11:19 AM EST

Nancy,
This makes me think of my confusion about medication dates. Can you address those? I often have over-the-counter drugs like skin ointments and antacids that have expiration dates that have past. Are these dangerous to take, or just not as effective as they would have been if they weren't expired? I figure if they expired in the last few months they are probably still OK. Prescription drugs that have expired, I toss.
Thanks.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Autoversicherung on February 21, 2008 at 01:54 PM EST

Hey, i come from Germany. This comment and Blog is my favorit. Thank you and Regards

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blue comment bubble Posted by Cristy on February 21, 2008 at 03:50 PM EST

I have found fuzzy green things in our work fridge that I didn't recognize and nobody would claim. In the trash, tupperware and all. I mean, really, who would want to wash that? I'm usually the refrigerator cleaner-outer here at work...hmmm, and I'm the only mom (with kids still at home) here. Wonder if there's a connection? My fridge at home gets cleaned out every weekend before I go to the grocery.

Thank you for that chart, I'm going to keep it in my kitchen because I've wondered about several of these things, eggs especially.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Nancy on February 21, 2008 at 11:50 PM EST

Hey! It's great to hear from everybody. (Hello Germany!)

Anonymous, I'm with you. I've found out of date food at my supermarket so I make sure I check dates. Stores tend to put older food in the front of shelves and newer stock in the back. So out of habit, I reach to the back of shelves for the food I buy--especially milk.

Carolyn, thanks for asking about medications. Here's the deal...the government requires drug companies to put expiration dates on meds. Until that date, you can be pretty sure that, if your medication has been stored properly, it will still be potent. After that date, most medicines may still be good for months to years. It depends on the medication and how it's stored (avoid the bathroom medicine cabinet, where it gets too hot from the steam of your shower.) Harvard's medical school has a good article on the subject of drug expiration dates: http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/update1103a.shtml

And Cristy, you shouldn't always be the one stuck ridding your office fridge of green fuzzies! Maybe your coworkers would be willing to do what we do. At Gov Gab headquarters, we rotate fridge cleaning duty monthly. Even bosses clean out the refrigerator. We all love making each other nauseated with the slimy things we find each month. LOL

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blue comment bubble Posted by charlene on February 22, 2008 at 09:52 AM EST

I cooked some couscous about 2 and a half weeks ago and forgot about it. Yesterday I came home and wondered why the kitchen smelled a little rancid. When I opened the fridge, it became clear...who knew that cooked couscous could go back so quickly??
I also have a little more than 1/2 a carton of half-and-half in the back of the fridge that I bought last month, but it says it's good until the 24th of February....I hope that's the case!

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blue comment bubble Posted by Citizen Jmaximus on February 23, 2008 at 08:05 AM EST

I noticed water has epiration date on it, how can water go bad? I mean really, 1,000,000 year old water is still good as long as it is clean.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Nancy on February 25, 2008 at 08:46 AM EST

Charlene, I found half a carton of half-and-half in the same spot in my fridge last week with a January date on it. Yikes! You can tell I'm not a coffee drinker and only buy the stuff when I have company.

Citizen J, I've been wondering the same thing about dating on unopened bottles of water. I don't think it's a case of bacteria so much as the water taking on the taste of the bottle and getting that plastic-y, stale taste.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Ben on February 26, 2008 at 04:29 PM EST

When in doubt -- throw it out!

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blue comment bubble Posted by bigdave on March 22, 2008 at 10:08 PM EDT

The chart is great!

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blue comment bubble Posted by More On Health on May 10, 2008 at 08:11 AM EDT

Hey, i come from India. This comment and Blog is my favorit. Thank you and Regards.

Genarally milk made products must be consumed within the expiration date.
Here in India people are not aware about the manuf. and expiry date.People needs to be aware and such type of blogs will definitely increase their awareness.

http://moreonhealthtoday.blogspot.com

http://www.youaskthis.com

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blue comment bubble Posted by Erika on May 15, 2008 at 12:30 PM EDT

Actually we should consume the food products which are as fresh as possible regardless of seemingly far expiration date.
Each day further of crop/manufacturing leads to lowering the quality and less nutritions in food.
Even good and very complete nutrient overview such as http://www.medicaladvices.com/ referres to fresh food only.

If possible, use the food produced today!


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blue comment bubble Posted by Captain Ozone on July 18, 2008 at 02:51 PM EDT

The dates can be your friend. I bought a half gallon of milk for a quarter yesterday because it expired the same day (I was using it all that night for cooking). My grocer also marks meat down at least 50% on the sell-by date.

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blue comment bubble Posted by JACK on August 01, 2008 at 02:48 AM EDT

I like your writing

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blue comment bubble Posted by Richard on January 24, 2009 at 04:21 PM EST

Not often I get to write February 29. Glad it falls on a Friday so I can use it in my links title. Speaking of February 29, here is a link to Google’s leap year research results page. Deciphering Food Expiration Dates:

Decipher the labels: Foods marked “sell by” remain good for several days past that date. “Use by” indicates the date the item will begin to lose freshness. Normally, food remains safe to eat a few days past then; it just might not taste as good. “Best if used by” is exactly what it says.

Apart from giving everything the sniff test before venturing a sip or a nibble, how do you know what's truly out of date and what's ok? This calls for some definitions.

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