Articles by Dr. Erdman are for informational purposes, and are not to be taken as specific medical advice.
How many times have the ‘use by’ or ‘sell by’ date on a
packaged food caused you to rethink eating or purchasing a product? Does either
of those dates say anything about whether the product is safe to eat? Are these
dates regulated by the government or backed by any research showing good reason
for them?
The average family in America wastes over $1500 worth of
food each year. Moldy bread and spoiled produce should be discarded for obvious
reasons. Yet many perfectly fine foods are tossed based on the ‘use by/best by’
and ‘sell by’ dates. A recent report from Harvard found that 90% of Americans
throw out food prematurely based on a misunderstanding of what these dates
really mean.
There is only one processed food in the U.S. that has
mandated dating by the federal government, and that is baby formula. These ‘use
by’ dates are actually based on scientific evidence. Baby formula must contain
the full nutrition listed on the product label. The use by date is the date
determined to be the latest date full nutrition is available, before it starts
to breakdown or separate. These dates should be followed.
Well what about other products? There are about half the
states that require dating of some products, but such labeling varies widely
among those states. There simply is no uniform system for labeling, nor is
there a federal requirement to do so. Those labels are pretty much at the whim
of the manufacturer.
There are two types of food dating labels; open and closed.
Closed labeling is written in code for use by the manufacturers. Closed
labeling is found on shelf stable products in cans or boxes. Open labeling is
when you see an actual date on the package. Open labeling is mostly used on
perishable foods like meat, eggs and dairy.
When you see a ‘sell by’ or ‘use by’ date, do they mean the
same thing? No. This is where the consumer misunderstanding comes into play. Do
they have anything to do with food safety? No.
A ‘sell by’ date is not even meant for consumers. It is
meant to help retailers rotate their shelf stock. There is actually a push to
make sell by dates invisible to consumers. It has no bearing on the foods
safety of use at all. Of course the government still recommends you by the food
before the ‘sell by’ date expires. Why? Who knows – it’s the government!
When the term ‘best if used by (or before)’ is printed, it
is usually the manufacturer’s determination of that products best flavor or
quality period. It is not, however, a measure of the food safety or spoilage.
Manufacturers will obviously be very conservative on these dates knowing people
will toss old stock and buy new product based on these dates.
To be fair, some manufacturers do use lab tests or
researched values for their dates. Some use consumer taste testing to determine
dates. But in all cases we, the consumer, have no way of knowing how that date
is set or calculated.
A ‘use by’ date is the last date of use for peak quality.
Again, this date is determined by the manufacturer and varies widely. Of course
the USDA recommends following that date. However, the USDA also states this, “‘Use
by’ dates usually refer to best quality and are not safety dates. Even if the
date expires during home storage, a product should be safe, wholesome and of
good quality if handled properly.” In other words, ‘use by’ dates are not
really use by dates…only the government!
The other food with mandatory dates are eggs. They have a 3
digit code (January 1 is 001, December 31 is 365). This date is 45 days from
when they were packed, and is a ‘sell by’ date. Eggs do stay fresh a long time.
If in doubt, put an egg in a bowl of water. If it floats, don’t eat it. It
should sink to be fresh.
Date labeling has come from demand by consumers who have
been removed from the process of buying fresh food. If you buy food from a
neighbor or farmers market, chances are it’s pretty fresh. But if you are like
the majority of people who buy all their food from a giant retailer, you
generally have no way to determine freshness, other than these labels. At the
very least you should know what they mean, and act accordingly. The best case
scenario is that you buy perishable food from places where you can know its
history.