How long is a food item still safe after the "SELL BY" date?

Question

Some food items have "use by" dates, others have "sell by" dates. If an item has a "sell by" date, how many days after that date is it still good?

Normally I use the item w/in a day or 2 of the sell by date, but I currently have beef shoulder rib steak carne asada that has been in the fridge & has a "sell by" date of Sunday (today is Thurs), is it still ok to use?
Also, what is your source of info ... how do you know your answer/info is correct?

I mainly need to know about the beef right now, but how about safe dates after "sell by" date for dairy products, lunch meats, leftovers?

ladyk5dragon sounded like a qualified answer, but just in case, I decided to verify w/ the local butcher who said meat w/ that sell date would have been cut the previous Friday and would be good for 7 days following, said if the meat was properly refridgerated, unopened, still good color, no bad odor, and not slimey to touch, it's safe to use ... so ladyk5dragon is correct :-)

ladyk5dragon is correct & best answer, but Q&A won't let me select best answer for 4 hours. Thanks for your help.

Answer 1

The rule of thumb is "When in doubt, throw it out".
Having said that... if they are kept at or below 40 deg F. AND HAS NOT BEEN OPENED it should be good for up to 7 days after the "use by date". If it has been opened, smell it, if it smells bad, pitch it.
Now if it is left overs, eat within 3 days of the origanal meal. If you can't remeber when you ate it pitch it.
If anything is old enough to shave (my term for moldy) it's bad. If beef is green and kind of "rainbow-y" it's bad, or if it smells like vinegar it's bad. If your dog won't eat it its bad.
In a professional situation we rotate out in-house prepaired food every 2-3 days, per the American standard for health inspections. Resturants get major penitallies for not haveing food date stamped or past the date stamp. Bigger leway is given to home cooks, since there is (thankfully) no home health inspectors.

I hope this has helped

Answer 2

For fresh meat the store cannot sell it past the sell by date. You'll be able to tell if the meat is bad by the smell. Personally I never keep meat in the fridge unless i'll be using it that or the next day. I stick it in the freezer and then use it within 3months. Luch meat must be used within 7 days of opening (even if the sell by date has past). Leftovers depends on what it is. Mostly 2-3 days. Dairy I never use after the "use by" date. But again with that you can tell by smell. I wouldn't use the meat. But then again you should be able to tell by smell and sight.

Answer 3

Any time something is past Sell By, I look at it and smell it carefully, both before cooking and while cooking.

Generally, I give dairy about four days, beef six days, pork three days, eggs four days. I use frozen chicken, but I would give chicken three days past sell-by if I had fresh chicken. Also, I may extend sealed products like sour cream or milk that have not been opened by a few days. But everything gets the sniff test!

Also, if you are cooking at temps lower than medium well, you should be much more careful about freshness--I wouldn't eat a rare steak that was past sell-by at all.

Answer 4

The "sell by" date is for the stores.. they have to pull it off their shelves if not sold by the date specified. The "use by" date is for us, the consumers. If the use by date has passed, throw the food away. Alot of times, I will buy meat that is marked down at the store because the sell by date is close. I take it home and freeze it immediately. I wouldn't eat meat that has been sitting in your refrigerator for 4 days past the sell by date. You're just asking for trouble.

Answer 5

Smell it- if it still smells fresh it's probably OK but my policy is when in doubt, throw it out. Has it been marinated? Sometimes that helps preserve the meat.

With dairy- often they smell even before the date, so that's easy. But why not just go by the date? Is it worth getting sick over?

Answer 6

You need to make sure that your steak is cooked well through to the middle to kill anything that might have grown on it.

Apparently leftovers are the worst for getting sick from.

Answer 7

9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-:(
I won't take the risk!