Food: Expiration dates can actually do more harm than good

[DrQ]

Expiration dates can actually do more harm than good​

Confusion regarding food labeling is leading to unnecessary food waste

Expiration dates can actually do more harm than good

Confusion regarding food labeling is leading to unnecessary food waste

theweek.com

 

[ScoopKona]

"Can actually?" Replace with "definitely" and I'm on board. I saw an expiration date on a package of salt before. Salt! It's. A. Rock.

 

[am1]

Government mandated. If people were left to their own decisions it would keep stores selling product longer and consumers may throw out well before the food is bad or way after.

 

[moonstone]

I have 2 SiL's who routinely throw food out on or right before the best before date. Money (cost of groceries) is not a concern for either of them. DH & I were at his nearly 90 yr old Mum's one day a few years ago when one of his sisters, who was also visiting, decided the pantry needed cleaning out. She started pulling boxes of new unopened crackers, unopened bottles of salad dressing, rice mixes and all kinds of other stuff out to throw it out. Mum was getting mad at her and I explained that it says "Best Before" not ''Goes Bad On" on the label. I asked Sil how she enjoyed the pasta salad I had brought for lunch. She said it was good. I asked if she felt ok. She said yes -why? I told her the pasta's best before date was almost 2 years prior! Haha! Mum and I put all the food back in the pantry and she told Sil to keep out of it.

In Canada, maybe in the USA as well, "Best Before ' dates are going to be phased out because a 2022 study by the National Zero Waste Council found 63 per cent of the food that Canadians throw away could have been eaten. That is a lot of wasted food.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-best-before-dates-food-waste-1.6897004

~Diane

 

[T-Dot-Traveller]

before I have 2 SiL's who routinely throw food out on or right before the best before date. Money (cost of groceries) is not a concern for either of them. DH & I were at his nearly 90 yr old Mum's one day a few years ago when one of his sisters, who was also visiting, decided

Do they have husbands ? Good thing spouses don't have " a best before date "

I asked Sil how she enjoyed the pasta salad I had brought for lunch. She said it was good. I asked if she felt ok. ........

LOL

In Canada, maybe in the USA as well, "Best Before ' dates are going to be phased out because a 2022 study by the National Zero Waste Council found 63 per cent of the food that Canadians throw away could have been eaten. That is a lot of wasted food.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-best-before-dates-food-waste-1.6897004

~Diane

Right now I am snacking on Hershey's Dark Chocolate Chipits as I watch the Blue Jays lose 6-0 to the Yankee's Derek Cole
$1 - 225 grams / BB - June 2023 / bought 5 at a place called Liquidation King
Viola grocery delivery by Sobeys is $ 4.99 - gluten free (LOL - what chocolate has glutten ?)

 

[moonstone]

Do they have husbands ? Good thing spouses don't have " a best before date "

Lol! Only one does (the other is a 66yr old spinster -easy to tell why!) and he is just as bad! He wont use any condiments on the tables in restaurants because the bottles aren't kept in the fridge and he thinks they refill the bottles even if he can see a future Best Before date on it.

We frequently shop at the 2 liquidations places near us (Orillia) and we also buy things off the discount racks at No Frills. We have been eating expired food for most of our almost 47 years of marriage and neither us or our kids have ever gotten sick. When I pointed out that the expiry date on our adult DD's sour cream was a few days before she said it's already sour -what's the difference! If it isn't moldy I'm eating it!


~ Diane

PS - I would have needed something stronger than chocolate chips to watch the Jays tonight! It was bad enough listening to it and hubby yell at the umpires & players!

 

[ScoopKona]

In Canada, maybe in the USA as well, "Best Before ' dates are going to be phased out because a 2022 study by the National Zero Waste Council found 63 per cent of the food that Canadians throw away could have been eaten. That is a lot of wasted food.

The amount of food which is purchased at a store, taken home, left long past it's shelf life and then thrown out is simply appalling. Some estimates go as high as one-quarter wasted. (When accounting for restaurants, where the real waste happens.)

 

[simpsontruckdriver]

The only food I found that expires around the date is Cow's Milk. Like clockwork, I buy it like a couple weeks before the date, begin using it, the date hits, and within a week, it begins going bad. I believe eggs are the same, they start going bad a week after the date. In terms of sodas like CocaCola, their dates are when the sugars and chemicals start breaking down, they don't get worse but they taste different. For things like that, keep the dates because they will go bad.

TS

 

[Makai Guy]

(LOL - what chocolate has glutten ?)

Indeed. On the other hand, many gluttons do have chocolate.

 

[Talent312]

I throw out anything in my pantry that is
more than 1 year past it's best-by date.
I do toss milk at or about its expiry date.