14 votes

Food expiration dates you should actually follow, and ones you can ignore

5 comments

  1. DanBC
    Link
    This article is true for the US, but not elsewhere. In the UK we have "best before" (product quality) and "use by" (product safety) labelling, and it's important to follow the use by dates. Food...

    This article is true for the US, but not elsewhere.

    In the UK we have "best before" (product quality) and "use by" (product safety) labelling, and it's important to follow the use by dates.

    The same way you would with most foods: Follow your nose.

    Food smells bad when it's rotting. You can't smell most food-poisoning pathogens. Go smell fresh chicken -- you can't smell campylobacter or salmonella. Or reheated rice -- you can't smell the toxins produced by bacillus cereus.

    Smelling food does not prevent food poisoning.

    9 votes
  2. JakeTheDog
    Link
    I'll add one other not to follow: buttermilk! Or anything cultured, will last way longer than the label. I've had opened containers of buttermilk that was still good 2 months after the "expiry"...

    I'll add one other not to follow: buttermilk! Or anything cultured, will last way longer than the label. I've had opened containers of buttermilk that was still good 2 months after the "expiry" date.

    Yet another reason to eat fermented foods!

    4 votes
  3. [2]
    Icarus
    Link
    Caveat here. That is if the flour is stored properly after purchase. After a few years, you may find weevils growing in your bag of flour. Ask me how I know.

    White flour is almost certainly fine to use, no matter its age. Whole-wheat and other whole-grain flours can acquire a metallic or soapy odor within a few months. This whiter-equals-longer rule of thumb is true for nonground grains as well. Refined white rice, for example, will last for years, while brown rice will last only for months.

    Caveat here. That is if the flour is stored properly after purchase. After a few years, you may find weevils growing in your bag of flour. Ask me how I know.

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. Icarus
        Link Parent
        You might say that I am a weevil, as I haved absorbed their power and DNA after eating them in hangover pancakes.

        You might say that I am a weevil, as I haved absorbed their power and DNA after eating them in hangover pancakes.

        2 votes
  4. asoftbird
    Link
    Reminds me of the bottle of flavor enhancer I have in the kitchen (similar in taste and color to Marmite, but liquid) which, if you buy a bottle nowadays, already has a due date for like 2024 or...

    Reminds me of the bottle of flavor enhancer I have in the kitchen (similar in taste and color to Marmite, but liquid) which, if you buy a bottle nowadays, already has a due date for like 2024 or so. I checked the back and it said the due date was 1998.
    So considering it'll last 4 years, it's now 26 years past due date and still good.

    Of course it's like 26% salt, E621, wheat extracts and water, so there's not much in there that can go bad, but there's still a ton of people who'd throw out that bottle the moment it's past due date.

    3 votes