best when used by date & expiration date?

Question

is there a difference between "best when used by" and "expiration" dates? i'm very picky when it comes to expiration dates, but i have a squeeze bottle of mayo that hadn't been opened yet with a best by date of FEB 07. so i opened it, and it looked perfectly fine...smelled it, smelled perfectly fine....tasted it, tasted just like normal....so i used it. so, does the best by date simply mean that the product is at its best by that date? or is a differently worded expiration date?? 10 points to most valid answer :)

Answer 1

"Best when used by" is a VOLUNTARY date, placed upon the product, to help vendors keep rotated stock at retailers. It allows not only the vendors, but also the public, to know if a retailer is rotating their stock, and it promotes the practice of removing "older" stock from the shelves. Keeping "fresh" product on the shelves is more profitable for the vendor/manufacturer.

"Expiration date" is a MANDATORY date set by the government, when a retailer MUST remove the product from their shelves. If you check, for example, a can of soup.. you will notice that it may have an "Expiration date" of a year or more to go.

Some products of course, have a shorter shelf life than others. Not all products have a 'mandatory' date set by the government. The FDA guidelines for food safety, and expiration dates that they set, are determined by 'optimum' storage conditions, and how long the food should be safe to consume. The expiration date does NOT take into account if the food has been stored in high temperatures, moisture, etc.

Regardless of what the date on the product says, there are some things you need to look for when preparing to use a food product:
Canned goods should not be bulging
The rim on a canned food item should not be damaged or broken, or the seal may be broken (even if you see no evidence of a 'leak')
'Boxed' foods such as mac&cheese that come in a cardboard box should be dry, and show no evidence of moisture damage.
The 'safety seal' on a food product should not be broken. Some of these seals are located on the outside of the package, some under the lid.
Many manufacturers began using "pop tops" to indicate if a vacuum packed product has lost its seal... the "button" in the center of the lid pops up, if the product has lost its vacuum seal. Some common products that use this technology are baby food jars, pickles, etc.

These are just some of the regulations that are mandated by the USDA to charities that distribute food (Second Harvest, or your local food pantry, for example)

The Boy Scouts have a Food Drive, each year. Our local food pantry receives some of this donated food, when it is available. SADLY -- I see many cases where someone has donated OPENED food containers, and food that is LONG past its mandatory expiration date. A food pantry CANNOT pass along opened containers -- for the same reason you wouldn't buy one off the shelf -- there is the risk it has been tampered with, or has gone bad, because it was opened. A food pantry CANNOT pass along food that has expired. It MUST be destroyed in such a way, that it CANNOT be eaten. The USDA is very strict about HOW food can be stored, WHAT can be distributed, and its condition and expiration dates. When we recieve product that is damaged or out of date, we MUST destroy it... passing along this trash, to and through the Boy Scouts, Second Harvest, etc... is just a waste of resources that could have been used to deliver GOOD food to people who need it.

Last year, I had to destroy approximately 18% of all the food we recieved from the Boy Scout Food Drive because it failed to meet the USDA guidelines for what we can distribute. Ive seen Campbell's soup cans that had expiration dates almost 10 years old... some of these cans even looked good... but that expiration date may have saved someone from a bad case of food poisoning, a family, or children perhaps, that may not have been in a position to protect themselves.

I would just like to take this opportunity to ask people to think about it, when they find that Boy Scout bag at their door, or mailbox. PLEASE, DONATE NEW food. Do NOT simply use that bag as a means of cleaning out your unusable items. Thank You.

Answer 2

Best If Used By Date

Answer 3

Yes, I also NOW know also that condoms have an expiration date. I used a package of cream cheese yesterday that hadn't been opened that expired on march 10th - and yes, depending on the product, I use past the expiration date. I cannot afford to throw food away.

Answer 4

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RE:
best when used by date & expiration date?
is there a difference between "best when used by" and "expiration" dates? i'm very picky when it comes to expiration dates, but i have a squeeze bottle of mayo that hadn't been opened yet with a best by date of FEB 07. so i opened it, and it looked perfectly fine...smelled it, smelled perfectly...

Answer 5

The best used date is "supposed" to be the optimal date by which it should be used. In fact this is a tactic to get you to consume a bit more by throwing out perfectly fine food on the used by date. Go by the expiration date.

Answer 6

yes there is a differance. "use by expiration" means it may be bad on or after that date. "Best when used by" (depending on the product) means that it is good after that date but he quality diminishes. Usually still good for days after. Depending on the product, like chips for example, are good for up to 1 yr after the printed date! Mayo is a tricky item, but it's easy to smell when it's sour.

Answer 7

I think if it was opened then you would stop using it by the experation date or best used by date, but if its not open you probably could still use it up to a week later if it doesn't smell or look bad.

Answer 8

"Best if used by..." is usually on non-perishable foods such as canned foods, soda, cereal, etc. These are foods that at one time had no expiration date at all.

"Best if used by..." means that they are sure the food will be good beyond that date--but they guarantee it will be good until that date at least.

"Expiration..." applies to perishable foods such as, milk, meat, yogurt, cheese, fresh fruit and veggies, etc. They do not guarantee freshness beyond that date--unless they specifically print that on the label.

Jars of mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles, etc. will have a "best if used by..." but they are talking about an unopened jar being good beyond that date.

Answer 9

That means that the store has to sell it before that date. It doesn't really mean it expires. It just shows that this is the date when the store has to have it sold before that date arrives.

Answer 10

i don't think there's any harm, especially if you've just opened it. a lot of times the dates just mean "sell by", so the stores don't leave it on their shelves forever. i actually just looked at my mayo and it just had the sell by date on it, not an expiration or best by date. just as long as you don't keep it forever after you've opened it!!