Should You Follow Expiration Dates and Sell-by Dates?

It’s disheartening to spend money on quality ingredients and then discover you haven’t been able to use them up by their expiration date. It’s a waste of money and a waste of all of the resources that went into producing that food. But what does “expiration date” really mean? Is the food definitely inedible? And what’s the difference between a “sell-by” date and a “best-if-used-by” date? What will happen if you eat something after those dates pass? [Insert food poisoning panic here].

Having so many different labels with varying, unregulated and often unclear terminology makes for a confusing consumer experience — one that can lead to food waste at both the marketplace (because shoppers pass over products with swiftly approaching date labels) and at home (because they feel they must toss “expired” products, even if the food itself is perfectly fine). In fact, research has shown that the lack of date-labeling uniformity — some industry experts estimate at least 50 different phrases in use nationwide — is responsible for 20 percent of consumer food waste.

The state of California recently passed a law to address the confusion: Beginning July 1, 2026, food producers must use standardized food date labels and cannot use consumer-facing sell-by dates. But if you don’t live in California, you can still reduce food waste by figuring out which sell-by/expiration dates matter and which don’t — and by building the indispensable skill of using your eyes and nose as a guide.

Expiration date labels: best-by date, sell-by date and use-by date definitions

In most cases, date labels are not that strict; for a lot of foods, they are actually a rough suggestion. In fact, the only federally regulated food date label is the one required on infant formula. Other than that, food-product dating is completely voluntary, and producers tend to be quite conservative. As this spotlight from ReFED points out, such labels are “generally intended to communicate food quality, not food safety;” companies want shoppers to experience their product at its very best and come back to buy it again, so they often set dates early enough to avoid food that tastes stale or flat, something that can happen long before it becomes unsafe, especially in the variable storage conditions you might have at home. Nonetheless, most shoppers and home cooks use these dates to gauge freshness and quality. If this is you, here’s a look at what the terms really mean:

Best-by date: This date guarantees the period of time the product will be at its best flavor or quality — when bread will still be soft or crackers crisp. The food will still remain edible after this date; the label is not indicative of food safety, but of taste.

Sell-by date: This date is determined by producers to inform sellers when to remove items from the shelves. The goal is to ensure consumers receive the item at its optimal quality, which can last for several days to several weeks past the date, depending on the item. Milk, for instance, should last five to seven days past its sell-by date if stored properly.

Use-by date: This is the last day the producer guarantees the best quality of the product. Again, except for in the case of infant formula, this is not a safety date nor a mandatory label.

So why does the food industry use expiration date labels that don’t need to be strictly adhered to? Of course, it’s smart to track the age of a product, so supermarkets don’t put old or bad food on the shelves. And it behooves them to be conservative, both because they don’t want their customers getting sick and because the faster you throw out their product, the more of it you’ll buy over time. But it also behooves us as consumers to learn some common-sense guidelines for using all our food before it spoils and heightening our abilities to spot food that has actually gone bad.

Preventing food waste by understanding what date labels really mean

If you’re willing to let sight and smell be your true guide, you might be able to extend the life of your food and have less of it — and your money — end up in the trash. For some foods, like pantry items (lentils, oats, etc.), it is more a question of taste than a matter of safety — i.e. your lentils won’t taste as yummy, but they’ll be edible past their expiration date. For more perishable items like dairy, eggs, meat and seafood, the stakes are a bit higher, but you can usually use sight, smell and/or touch to tell if something is wrong. Often, it’s a simple question: Is there mold growing on it? (If it’s cheese, you can usually just scrape the mold off and enjoy the remaining cheese.)

Here’s what to look for when figuring out if some common foods that have passed their expiration date have spoiled, as well as tips for keeping track of how long they’ve been in your fridge:

Related Posts