If you love to buy deals you have likely come across products that made you wonder if it is “bad”. So today we are going to discuss the difference between Expiration Dates, Best By dates, Sell by, Use By and even make sense of those weird little icons that look like this: 

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT LABELING

People often inaccurately assume that the date means “the day you have to throw it in the trash” - however this simply isn’t always true…. Although the company you bought the product from would absolutely love for you to throw it away and buy another one!

Most people do not realize that The labeling of expiration dates on foods actually isn't required by the FDA, except on infant formula!! This means that the date printed on the product is actually selected by the manufacturer of the product! Think about that for a quick second… if you are a manufacturer of a product, wouldn’t it be in your best interest to make the products “expire” sooner than later? Of course!

THE ACTUAL INTENDED PURPOSE OF DATES

The actual purpose of dates is to give the buyer an idea of when the product will be “at it’s best”. However, the Hawaiian Punch juice in your fridge has no way of knowing what month it is, so it has no way of knowing when the time comes to expire, you know?

With that in mind, if the Colgate Toothpaste in your bathroom cabinet has a date on the packaging that says “August 2020” and today is January 1st, 2021, you may begin to notice the product is a little more firm than it was in July of last year. Again, this doesn’t mean the product is bad; it just means the product might not be at it’s “full quality”. In fact, there is currently a lot of debate regarding ELIMINATING “expiration dates” and changing them all to “Best By” dates because Americans are throwing away perfectly good products, which creates massive amounts of landfill waste for utterly no reason. Personally, I think this would be a great idea!

SO WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THESE DATES?

SELL BY DATES - This date if for the STORE that the item is being sold in. This date tells the store when they should rotate their stock. You can score awesome deals on stuff that is past the “Sell By Date”. Some fantastic finds are dry goods, such as pasta or canned goods or even that day-old-bread.

BEST BY DATES - This is not an “expiration date”. A Best By date indicates when the item *might* begin losing flavor, texture or color. The Best By date is exclusively chosen by the manufacturer of the product. Common sense should outweigh Best By dates.

USE BY DATES - Very similar to a “Best By” date. The Use By is the last date the manufacturer of the product recommends using it. The Use By date is exclusively chosen by the manufacturer of the product and typically only applies to meat or fish. Common sense should outweigh Use By dates.

EXPIRATION DATES - Just like with Sell By, Best By, and Use By, these dates are chosen exclusively by the products manufacturer and they are intended to tell consumers the last day a product is safe to use. Did you know that more than 90% of Americans throw out food prematurely, and 40% of the U.S. food supply is tossed–unused–every year because of food dating…. And this is just relating to food. Imagine what happens with all of the other products that aren’t food that are wasted.

AFTER OPENED DATES - These are common on products like cosmetics and body care. This is the funky little jar icons we looked at earlier:

As you will notice, the jar image has a number and the letter “M”. This means that the product is “at its best” for 12 MONTHS after it is used / opened. Again, this absolutely does not mean you need to throw away your shampoo because you think you bought it 14 months ago. In fact, that would be idiotic.   However, if the product smells strange, is clumpy or an incorrect consistency, then it likely has gone bad. 

Years ago I learned that any body care product that contains Vanilla may begin turning slightly brown after it has sat for a long time.  This especially applies to lotions.  The color of the lotion changing from white / cream-to-brown does not at all impact the ability to use the product.  The reason this happens is because REAL Vanilla was used, but, at the time of manufacturing the product, a "Vanilla Color Stabilizer" was used to get rid of the brown color.  Over time the Vanilla Color Stabilizer loses its effectiveness and the true Vanilla wins; therefore a brown tint appears.  

REALITY:

• According to the USDA, canned foods can be EATEN FOREVER. Yes, literally forever, providing the canned goods have not been exposed to extreme heat or are rusting.  (I actually just learned that today! I knew they lasted a long time but I didn't know it was THAT long!)
• Did you know EGGS are good for 2 - 3 WEEKS after exp?! 
• Dried Beans and Such will also last basically forever
• A box of Mac N Cheese will last for YEEEARS. The powder cheese may eventually get clumpy, but the noodles will be fine.
• And so on. The only downside is the color of the product may change and the flavor might not be as good as it was when it was in it’s prime. 
• BUT, you really should mess around with dairy, meat / chicken or fish.  These are the only categories of products that can cause severe harm if consumed after they have gone rancid.