Ignore Expiration Dates and Other Common Cents

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mixfinder

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"Best by," "Sell by," and all those other labels mean very little.

Expiration dates mean very little. There's a filet mignon in my fridge that expired four days ago, but it seems OK to me. I take a hesitant whiff and detect no putrid odor of rotting flesh, no oozing, fetid cow juice—just the full-bodied aroma of well-aged meat. A feast for one; I retrieve my frying pan. This is not an isolated experiment or a sad symptom of my radical frugality. With a spirit of teenage rebellion, I disavow any regard for expiration dates.

The fact is that expiration dates mean very little. Food starts to deteriorate from the moment it's harvested, butchered, or processed, but the rate at which it spoils depends less on time than on the conditions under which it's stored. Moisture and warmth are especially detrimental. A package of ground meat, say, will stay fresher longer if placed near the coldest part of a refrigerator (below 40 degrees Fahrenheit), than next to the heat-emitting light bulb. Besides, as University of Minnesota food scientist Ted Labuza explained to me, expiration dates address quality—optimum freshness—rather than safety and are extremely conservative. To account for all manner of consumer, manufacturers imagine how the laziest people with the most undesirable kitchens might store and handle their food, then test their products based on these criteria.

With perishables like milk and meat, most responsible consumers (those who refrigerate their groceries as soon as they get home, for instance) have a three–to-seven-day grace period after the "Sell by" date has elapsed. As for pre-packaged greens, studies show that nutrient loss in vegetables is linked to a decline in appearance. When your broccoli florets yellow or your green beans shrivel, this signals a depletion of vitamins. But if they haven't lost their looks, ignore the printed date. Pasta and rice will taste fine for a year. Unopened packs of cookies are edible for months before the fat oxidizes and they turn rancid. Pancake and cake mixes have at least six months. Canned items are potentially the safest foods around and will keep five years or more if stored in a cold pantry. Labuza recalls a seven-year-old can of chicken chunks he ate recently. "It tasted just like chicken," he said.

Not only are expiration dates misleading, but there's no uniformity in their inaccuracy. Some manufacturers prefer the elusive "Best if used by," others opt for the imperative "Use by," and then there are those who litter their goods with the most unhelpful "Sell by" stamps. (I'm happy my bodega owner is clear on when to dump, but what about me?) Such disparities are a consequence of the fact that, with the exception of infant formula and some baby foods, package dates are unregulated by the federal government. And while some states do exercise oversight, there's no standardization. A handful of states, including Massachusetts and West Virginia, and Washington, D.C., require dating of some form for perishable foods. Twenty states insist on dating for milk products, but each has distinct regulations. Milk heading for consumers in Connecticut must bear a "Sell by" date not more than 12 days from the day of pasteurization. Dairies serving Pennsylvania must conform to 14 days.

That dates feature so prolifically is almost entirely due to industry practices voluntarily adopted by manufacturers and grocery stores. As America urbanized in the early 20th century, town and city dwellers resorted more and more to processed food. In the 1930s, the magazine Consumer Reports argued that Americans increasingly looked to expiration dates as an indication of freshness and quality. Supermarkets responded and in the 1970s some chains implemented their own dating systems. Despite the fact that in the '70s and '80s consumer groups and processors held hearings to establish a federally regulated system, nothing came of them.

These dates have no real legal meaning, either. Only last year, 7th Circuit Judge Richard Posner reversed the conviction of a wily entrepreneur who'd relabeled 1.6 million bottles of Henri's salad dressing with a new "Best when purchased by" date. Posner decided that the prosecutor had unjustly condemned the dressing as rancid, rotten, and harmful, when in fact there was no evidence to suggest that the mature product posed a safety threat.

Expiration dates are intended to inspire confidence, but they only invest us with a false sense of security. The reality is that the onus lies with consumers to judge and maintain the freshness and edibility of their food—by checking for offensive slime, rank smells, and off colors. Perhaps, then, we should do away with dates altogether and have packages equipped with more instructive guidance on properly storing foods, and on detecting spoilage. Better yet, we should focus our efforts on what really matters to our health—not spoilage bacteria, which are fairly docile, but their malevolent counterparts: disease-causing pathogens like salmonella and Listeria, which infect the food we eat not because it's old but as a result of unsanitary conditions at factories or elsewhere along the supply chain. A new system that could somehow prevent the next E. coli outbreak would be far more useful to consumers than a fairly arbitrary set of labels that merely (try to) guarantee taste.

Forwarded to me by a friend in response to my past pull whipping cream post. Thanks, buddy.
 
One should never use the expiry date as the only criterion for determining whether food is ok or not. Just look at it and smell it, that is far more important. I see sometimes vegetables that are not expired but look so bad that I will never buy them and on the other hand I have eaten many items that were long expired but still perfectly edible and tasteful. What I always found ridiculous is the expiry date that we have on salt. This substance was deposited many millions of years ago and now when it has been put in a paper bag it suddenly expires in a few years. Well, to my knowledge salt will not decompose, rot or oxidise so why the expiry date?
 
I've never seen an expiration date on salt. Or honey.

(Point of trivia: those are the only two edible substances found in nature that never spoil.)
 
I know what you mean....the other day cleaning out my sister's fridge I came across a few limes, which she could not recall buying.....turned out they used to be 3 heads of lettuce.....ewww!!

it happens!

Why am I not suprised?...she starts out in the morning wearing high heels.......by lunch their flip-flops!
 
We do have it (see picture). So I must consume this one kilogram bag of salt before May 8, 2010 (and also before 14:29 on that day). And I haven't even opened it!

mielabor++2-19-2010-13-18-46.jpg
 
Me.... When in doubt throw it out. I would rather throw it OUT than throw it UP! See thread #27123. I'm very cautous about food. Not all foods smell bad or look bad when something is wrong. A clean kitchen is also a MUST for me. Some people rinse and put it back. Me... EVERYTHING goes in the dishwasher,sanitized.

Jim
 
Except for certain fine wines and cheeses, fresh is generall

I'm with Spanko... there's enough nasty germs going around without making it worse. Plus I'm not so sure that all supermarket meat displays are at the safest temperatures, or that someone hasn't put product in the basket, walked around the store for an hour while it has warmed up, changed their mind, and put it back in the display case. At least choosing the most recently cut product minimized the chances that it has gone off.

Not that I necessarily trust the "use by" or "sell by" dates. I don't discount the possibility that the grocer or butcher has re-dated stuff that hasn't sold quick enough. But I ALWAYS look for the farthest date out... after all, I could always "age" meat in my own fridge. Only problem, aging red meat in plastic wrap in a home fridge, or in a display case, is NOT the proper way to age it. It just spoils and doesn't get any more tender. It IS possible to dry age meat in the fridge at home, but one winds up having cut away about 50% of the meat and toss it in the compost pile. There goes any savings one might have achieved by buying a tougher cut of meat.
 
Kelly, that same friend had forwarded the article to me too. I'd read the article about 2 hours earlier. And I'm like Jim, when in doubt I throw it out. With my digestive and stomach issues (howdy Richie-golittlesport), I can't afford to have a stupid decision cause me real problems. I err on the side of caution.
 
WARNING!!!!Human sense of smell is NOT good enough to detect food that is bad-I am sure ANY of us has experienced that--For instance I DO NOT eat at cafeteria type restuarants-you don't know how long that food has been sitting in the hotel pan on the steam or ice table.These are not good enough to keep harmful bacteria from growing within an hour.I have lost count of how many times I got sick eating in those places.The food can smell or taste OK-but it can be dangerously contaiminated.Best bet go by the rule--"if in doubt-throw it out"
 

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