Reading best-before and use-by dates correctly

The EU Food Information Regulation draws a clear line between the two. The best-before date says until when the manufacturer stands behind taste, smell, texture and nutritional value being as promised. It is a quality date. Typical examples are pasta, rice, tins, biscuits or chocolate.

The use-by date is used for foods that are microbiologically highly perishable and can become a health hazard after a short time – for example fresh minced meat, raw poultry or fresh fish. Under EU law, such food is deemed unsafe after this date.

Some very long-lasting products carry no date at all, because they practically do not spoil as long as they stay dry. Outside the EU, date labelling is sometimes regulated differently, voluntary, or uses other terms, some of which are aimed more at retailers. There it is worth checking local rules and official guidance.

An expired best-before date is not a throw-away date. Check the packaging first: is it undamaged, sealed and not bulging? Then open it, look closely at the food, smell it and carefully taste a small amount. If everything seems normal, it is usually still edible.

Over time, products tend to lose quality rather than safety: crisps go soft, coffee loses its aroma, oil and nuts can go rancid. You recognise rancid fat by a sharp, bitter smell reminiscent of paint – then it goes in the bin. Mould, pests or an odd smell are also clear reasons to throw something away.

For the emergency stock, products with a best-before date are ideal. Write the date large and clearly on the package or the shelf and use things first in, first out: what was bought first is eaten first.

After the use-by date, a food is no longer eaten, not even fried through or boiled. The reason: some germs multiply even in the fridge, and some produce toxins that are not destroyed by heating. Many of these germs do not change the smell or appearance. Sensory checks are therefore no safety test here.

If you want to keep something with a use-by date for longer, freeze it in good time before it expires, provided the package allows this. After opening, separate time limits often apply, such as “once opened, use within … days” – opened packs go into the fridge, covered.

Both dates assume that the food has been stored correctly. If yoghurt became warm for hours during a power cut, the printed date no longer helps – then the rules for a broken cold chain apply. Damaged, leaking or bulging packs and tins are not eaten, regardless of the date.

While checking the stock, you find a tin of lentils whose best-before date passed a few months ago. The tin is smooth, without dents at the seam, without rust and not domed. Once opened, the lentils look and smell normal. Then they can generally be eaten – and you resolve to rotate the stock more often in future.

It is different with minced meat whose use-by date was yesterday: it stays uneaten, even if it seems fresh. And with a tin whose lid bulges outwards or that hisses and spurts when opened, you do not even taste it – it is thrown away, no matter how long the date still has to run.