Does a Best By Date Matter?

When cooking, does it really matter what the best by date says on a package? Well, it depends.

When it comes to dates on food packages, I’ve found that there are really four you’re likely to see.

1. Best By Date
2. Expiration Date
3. Sell By Date
4. Use By Date

Food expirations dates explained

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there is only one food product sold in America that has a legit expiration date. That product is infant or baby formula. 

The USDA says that you should not buy or give a baby formula that has passed its “use by” date. This is because there is the chance that the formula nutrient quality is no longer up to manufacturer standards.

But that’s it. No other food sold in American grocery stores has an expiration date that you’re required to follow as a consumer. Some states have restrictions on if food can be sold after a certain date, but more about that in a bit.

Definition of best used by dates and more

Here is how the USDA defines the commonly used phrases you might see on a food package:

• Best if Used By/Before date: indicates when a product will be of best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
• Sell-By date: tells the store how long to display the product for sale for inventory management. It is not a safety date.
• Use-By date: the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality.
• Freeze-By date: indicates when a product should be frozen to maintain peak quality.

Best by dates are about quality

It’s important to keep in mind that when it comes to dates on foods, these are just suggestions for quality. So, if you want to eat food that tastes the best, you should eat it before the use by, best by or sell by date has come and gone.

Or, as was the case of the quick bread, no yeast bread recipe Bill made lately, it’s about the ingredients, too. For example, Bill has always been a skeptic about expiration dates. However, he learned the hard way — with a bread that didn’t rise as expected — that if you’re using expired ingredients, you won’t get the outcome you seek.

As my friend Jenn, a retired chef who writes the Bake What You Love blog, told me, “Two years out of date on dried rice or beans I’d probably use. But everyone should know that baking powder has a shelf life if you want stuff to rise properly.” Now I’ve learned about baking powder substitutes I can use in a pinch.

How long are eggs good after best by date?

A lot of people may have questions about whether you can use eggs after they have expired. It’s important to remember that eggs don’t expire — they likely just have a best use by date.

In our kitchen, we determine if eggs are still good, not by the date on the package but by a few things. One, how do the eggs smell before or after we crack them? Two, what is the consistency and color of the egg yolk and white once cracked?

If anything looks off to us, we won’t use the eggs. The USDA recommends that, in order to get the most use and life out of eggs, place them in the back of your refrigerator, where it is coldest. That will keep them fresh longer. The worst thing you could do is take them out of their carton and store them in the door.

Canned food expiration dates

Most canned food is good to eat for years to come. This includes everything from tomato sauce to tuna. Again, the expiration date on the can isn’t about safety–it’s about quality.

That being said, there are three things to look for on canned goods that suggest they are no longer safe to eat, even if the best by date on the can is still far in the future.

One, swelling in the can. In other words, it’s bulging outwards

Two, dents in the can.

Three, rust on the can.

All of these things can indicate that the can’s integrity is compromised, meaning it’s no longer keeping the food safe to eat. Or the food itself has spoiled and is fermenting, thus the building can. Either way, get rid of it.

Expiration dates on open food and leftovers

At some point you may have read articles about the safety of Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. That is, by the time Cyber Monday rolls around, you should have eaten all the leftovers.

If not, you need to freeze them before day four or toss them. That’s because most leftovers are only good for four days in the refrigerator. Then things become questionable.

It’s the same with open packages of food. While they may not expire as quickly as the Thanksgiving turkey, they will not last indefinitely in the refrigerator.

How to know when expired food is truly bad

Many foods will last for one to two weeks after you open them. However, use some of your senses to determine if they’re still good.

One, how does the food look? If you go to take some yogurt and it has mold growing in it, get rid of it. On the other hand, if you see mold growing on a block of hard cheese, you can cut that part off, throw it away and eat the rest.

Two, how does the food smell? For example, your nose will know if fresh produce or milk has gone bad. 

Three, how does the food feel? Slimy luncheon meat has no place in a sandwich. Toss it in the trash.

However, bread could feel stale and still be safe to eat. Maybe use it to make croutons or French toast. On the other hand, if that stale bread is also growing mold, then it belongs in the compost pile.

Here are the rules about if and when does alcohol expire.

State rules on food expiration dates

I’d mentioned earlier that on the federal level, only sales of baby formula are prohibited after an expiration date. However, each state may have its own rules that retailers have to follow about selling something after its “best to use by” date has come and gone.

For example, I recently learned that Pennsylvania (where I’d lived for nearly 20 years) does not allow stores to sell milk if the date on the package has expired. This is true, even though the milk could still be perfectly good.

No wonder the USDA estimates that 30 percent of food sold in stores ends up in the waste stream. It’s a big reason that we compost our food scraps.

Turns out Pennsylvania is not alone with this requirement. Here are the states that ban stores from selling dairy and milk specifically after the use-by date include:

• Florida
• Georgia
• Kentucky
• Maryland
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Montana
• New Jersey
• New Mexico
• Pennsylvania
• Virginia
• Washington, DC

We live in Maine now. Thankfully, Maine is not on the list of states with these arcane best by date rules regarding milk.