Many people don’t know that expiry date and best
before date are not the same. In fact, many people use them interchangeably
thinking that they mean the same thing. Well, let me use this medium to inform
you that expiry date and best before date are two different terminologies
meaning different things and serving different purposes.
In this article, I will explain what each date
marking found on food packages means and also introduce to you, the concepts of
“use by” date and “durable life date”. I will however lay more emphasis on the
expiry date and best before dates because they are the most commonly used on
food packages.
Definition of Terms (Date Markings on Food Packs)
Expiry Date:
It is added to a food package to tell
consumers the last day a product is safe to consume. You should never consume
food after the expiry date.
Best Before Date:
This is the date the manufacturer
deems the product reaches peak freshness. The date does not indicate spoilage,
nor does it necessarily tells you that the food is no longer safe for
consumption.
Sell by:
This is specifically added for sellers of
the products. Most sell-by dates are found on perishables like meat, seafood
and milk. The date is a guide for stores to know how long they can display a
particular product. After this date, they MUST not sell it.
So, what are the important differences between
EXPIRY DATE and BEST BEFORE DATE? By the time you are done reading this, you
would find out that it is not every food that expires and not every food you
should throw away after some dates.
1. The Meaning of Expiry Date & Best Before Date
Expiry date means that your food has gone spoilt
from that date and you should never consume it. It is no longer safe to eat
such foods as they would lead to illness and in extreme cases, death. Best
Before Date on the other hand tells you that the food is no longer in its
perfect shape from that date. It may just lose its freshness, taste aroma or
nutrients. It does not necessarily mean that the food is no longer safe to eat.
Expiry date is not something we see on every food
product. Unlike Best Before Dates, there are five types of products that are
labelled with an expiration date. They include:
- Baby formula and other human milk substitutes,
- Nutritional supplements,
- Meal replacements,
- Pharmacist-sold foods for very low-energy diets,
- Formulated liquid diets.
However, it is easy to find best before dates on
nearly every item in the supermarket.
2. Best Before relates to Quality, Expiry Date to
Safety
Best before dates indicates that the quality of a
food material can no longer be guaranteed after that date, so this is a Quality
indicator. On the other hand, Expiry Date indicates that a food has gone bad
and should not be eaten. You put yourself in danger if you eat the food after
its expiry date.
In a country like the U.S.A., foods that are
perishable (e.g. cheese) are required by law to have an expiry date but
something like a sleeve of crackers or a box of cereal doesn’t need to be
dated. The best before date added to the packages of these food material are
mostly voluntary.
3. It’s Possible To Eat Food After Best Before Date
Without Falling ill
Like I said earlier at some point in this article,
best before dates do not relate to the safety of a food product, it is just
about quality. This means that we can still eat a food that has passed its best
before date; the food would just likely not be in its best quality state. It
might have lost some nutrients or changed colour.
Manufacturers usually choose best before dates
through sensory testing over a period of time. Testing may be scheduled for 1
month, 3 months, 6 months and 9 months after the product was manufactured. This
depends on the food that is being tested.
The truth is that manufacturers choose mostly 20%
earlier date than the best before date. If the food’s quality can no longer be
guaranteed after 100days of storage, manufacturers would normally put the best
before date at day 80 after manufacture.
Do not forget to use the sharing buttons...
No comments
Post a Comment