Expiration Date Exasperation

Thanks to a past health class lecture, I believe it was in both Jordan and Jamie’s kindergarten years, they are obsessed with dying from food poisoning by eating expired food.

And kudos to the physical education teachers who taught this topic, because the somewhat exaggerated safety lesson has stuck with both Jordan and Jamie for five years.

Go ahead, laugh all you want. But I am not remotely joking when I tell you that at least twice a day I am asked by each of them “Is this expired?” “Is this bad already?” “Is it okay to eat this?”

It doesn’t matter what type of food product it is – from a loaf of bread to fresh fruit to canned veggies to deli meat. What’s worse, it doesn’t matter if they personally placed these same exact items in the shopping cart the day before when they helped shop for groceries: If they can’t find and/or translate the expiration date on the product’s label, they will ask Jim or me to confirm the food’s safety.

And in the worst-case scenario, the kids find the expiration date, determine that the food is safe to eat per the label, yet still insist on asking for confirmation. I swear the unspoken epicurean rule of thumb between the two of them is ‘trust, but verify.’

According to the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, except for infant formula and some baby foods, product dating is not required by Federal regulations. And while this factoid means nothing to my personal Food Police team, it seems a bit of an oxymoron that the Food Safety and Inspection Service doesn’t concern itself with healthy versus spoiling food.

In our house, if the food in question has one of the six date labels on it, that is when it expires, and eating it means you will die instantly. In case you’re curious (and happen to be cleaning the pantry one day), here’s a quick guide as to how little food safety value these labels provide once we as consumers bring the food home:

“Best if Used by (or Before)” Date: This date has nothing to do with food safety, but refers to when the product is at its peak for best flavor or quality.

“Born On” Date: I have personally never seen this label before, but it appears most commonly on beer bottles, and refers to the product’s date of manufacture. For those apparently in the know, beer has a fridge life of about twelve weeks, and then starts to lose its flavor quality.

“Guaranteed Fresh” Date: Again, food products with this label (most commonly baked goods) are still safe to eat after the posted date, but will not be at their absolute best.

“Pack” Date: This label is usually placed on canned or packaged foods, but can sometimes make things more complicated for the user by using the Julian calendar versus the standard day-month-year format.

“Use By” Date: As determined by the product’s manufacturer, this date again refers to optimum taste quality. The food is still edible, but it is not at its peak taste level. 

"Sell By" Date:  Maybe the most useful label for consumers, "sell by" tells the store how long to display the product for sale before they physically remove it from the shelves. Again, like all the other labels discussed, this labeling and/or the pulling of products past the printed date is not mandatory. So as a rule of thumb, always select the “newest” item for freshness and taste.

So in the end, it comes down to common sense when determining the freshness and safety of the food we feed our families; let’s face it, we’ve all encountered at least one item in our fridge that was a little too stinky or had grown fur that we felt safe throwing directly in the garbage.

And in my research travels, I did find the following bit of information that across the board will be the most useful factoid to families near and far:  Milk is usually fine until a week after the “Sell By” date; when in doubt, use the smell test.