Confusion over expiration dates causes a lot of annual food waste, as much as $160 billion
in the U.S. alone.
Let's clear the air and explain expiration dates.
Here's a fun fact: In the U.S., there are no federal laws that specify what expiration
dates actually mean and how long food is actually good for.
Since there hasn't been any movement for a national standard, state and local health
departments have been left to their own devices to come up with labeling guidelines.
Not surprisingly, that's led to a lot of miscommunication and confusion.
All that gets even more confusing when state authorities step in to try to fill the void
in their own jurisdictions.
The labeling guidelines they set might contradict other states' laws, for example.
There are even nine states that don't require expiration dates be stamped on anything.
There are also tons of city laws.
In Baltimore, it's illegal to sell food past its expiration date.
But it is legal in Maryland.
Clearly, the whole system is incredibly complicated, especially when you find out that individual
retailers like big box stores and grocery stores can then also add their own dates.
So any time you cross a state line, go into another city, or stop by a local store to
pick up a gallon of milk, the date on it might mean something entirely different from what
it means at home.
You wouldn't know.
Although rules and regulations differ from state to state, some general info will help
you make sense of all the different types of expiration dates.
If the date says it's a sell-by date, it doesn't really have anything to do with you.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a sell-by date is more for the stores than
the consumer.
It simply tells stores how long they can keep it on their shelves for, and it actually has
nothing to do with freshness.
If you were to purchase a package of chicken on its sell-by date, you don't need to run
home and use it immediately.
You would be perfectly safe leaving it in the refrigerator for a couple days or freezing
it for up to nine months.
If in doubt, you can always use the smell test.
"Smelling it, or touching it, or tasting it even."
To see how arbitrary this can be, all you need to do is look at Montana.
Montana's laws for the sale of milk are pretty crazy, and the end result is that a huge amount
of good milk is wasted.
The state's laws say that all milk needs to be labeled with a sell-by date that's 12 days
after the milk was pasteurized.
Sounds reasonable, until you consider that the pasteurization process creates a product
with an actual shelf life of 21 days.
Does this lead to a lot of wasted product and losses for local retailers and producers?
You bet it does.
It's nuts, especially when you consider California lets milk processors decide how long their
product lasts, and Texas doesn't have any guidelines at all.
This is a pretty common one, and you'd probably like to think that a product's best-by date
was backed up by science of some sort.
It's not.
It has absolutely nothing to do with when you should buy something by, when you should
freeze it, or even when you should chuck it in the garbage.
"Does your milk taste sour when you take a sip of it?
Just check the expiration date, dummy!
For your health."
The only thing this really indicates is an opinion on when the food is at its peak flavor,
taste, or quality.
It's pretty subjective, to say the least.
After a use-by date, some foods might undergo something like a texture change that's not
what the manufacturer wanted, but it isn't dangerous to eat or begging for the garbage.
Have some yogurt in the fridge that's a few days past the best-by date?
It's probably fine.
"My lunch is ruined!
My chicken, my potatoes, my pasta, my meatballs, ham, my yogurt."
So if sell-by dates are for the stores and best-by dates are for peak quality, what about
use-by dates?
In many places, it's similar to the idea of a best-by date, and the USDA defines it as
the last day to use something while it's still at its peak quality.
But that doesn't necessarily mean it's dangerous.
This is where a lot of confusion happens, and many people think that use-by dates have
some science behind them, too.
But they don't, and the shelf life of a product isn't determined by any overseeing body.
It's the responsibility of the manufacturer to put these dates on their products, and
the USDA stresses that these dates have nothing to do with safety.
As long as food is handled and stored properly, it can be good for days after its use-by date.
"There's something wrong with this yogurt.”
“It’s not yogurt.
It’s mayonnaise.”
“Alright.
There we are then."
All that being said, there's one product the FDA does regulate: infant formula.
The expiration dates on this particular product are hard and fast rules.
While your adult body won't mind too much if you snack on some cookies that expired
last week, infant and baby bodies will.
Here, expiration dates mean the same sort of thing, but they need to be more strictly
followed because of the job they need to do.
There are also texture considerations.
Infant formula is fed through a bottle, and any change in texture or consistency can make
it hard for the baby to get it out of the bottle.
Even if you're willing to crack open some almond milk that's a few days past its expiration
date, you might be a little unsure about what's in your medicine cabinet.
Take that bottle of Tylenol.
There's a date on it, but it doesn't mean there's anything wrong or dangerous about
it beyond that date.
It's there because of a 1979 law that said all medicine needed to be dated, but it has
nothing to do with danger or spoilage.
It simply means that it's the last date that the pill is guaranteed to be working at full
strength.
According to Harvard Medical School, most non-liquid medications are good well past
their expiration date, and keeping them in a cool place rather than your bathroom medicine
cabinet will also help prolong their potency.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite topics are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.