More On Best By Dates For Food

I was brought up not to waste food. At the time I was growing up, we didn't have Best By dates on food packages, so judging whether something was unfit to eat was largely a matter of common sense and sometimes trial and error. Now that we have Best By dates, we have a different problem – throwing out food that's still quite edible because it's past the date on the packaging. 

The Healthy Gem website has published a guide to foods that are safe to eat past their Best By dates. It includes advices on pasta, eggs, dairy products, meat, spices and other foods that you likely have in your kitchen. 

Most people believe that the date printed on the package is the deadline to throw it out. But according to Paul VanLandingham, member of Food and Beverage Management of Johnson & Wales University, “best by” dates refer to food quality, not safety. So you can safely eat more foods beyond their expiration dates.

If the printed dates don’t determine food safety, how do you know when to clean out your fridge? Here, we’ll go over the real expiration dates for raw meat, spices, cooking oils, and dairy products based on information provided by food safety experts.

For information about more foods, you can look at the Eat By Date webiste, which I've posted about before. 

I would like to see food packaging show a second "Eat By" date, which would show a date by which food would be safe to eat, as well as the current Best By date.