Wasted Food reader Brian raises an interesting question: Is there a rule-of-thumb estimate for how long past the sell-by date items stay good? After looking through my interview with Angela Fraser, a food safety expert at N.C. State University, I can generalize that most foods are fine one week past the sell-by date.
Of course, this varies between products. Bagged spinach may go sooner, but eggs last three to five weeks past their date. Fraser recalled drinking milk 10 days past the “sell-by” that tasted fine. That’s why smelling the item is a more effective guide than any date stamped on the package.
Food producers and stores view the sell-by date as the last day on which consumers can buy the item where it will still have a decent refrigerator life. Because they want you to have time to use the item, there’s some flexibility built into the date. Also, they have to err on the side of caution–manufacturers aren’t sure that stores will handle items properly and stores aren’t sure whether the product sat unrefrigerated on a hot loading dock for an hour before it reached their shelves. That’s where “the nose test” comes in.
In addition, the date addresses flavor more than food safety. That’s because most food will lose its taste well before it becomes a health risk. At a certain point, a food becomes hazardous, but keep in mind that there are certain cheeses based on mold. I’m not advocating you tempt fate, but it won’t kill you to scoop out the moldy bit from a jar of tomato sauce and use the rest. Will it taste as good as a fresh jar? Probably not. But it certainly won’t make you sick. Don’t just take my word for it, read the US Department of Agriculture’s views on the topic:
- A “Sell-By” date tells the store how long to display the product for sale. You should buy the product before the date expires.
- A “Best if Used By (or Before)” date is recommended for best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
- A “Use-By” date is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality. The date has been determined by the manufacturer of the product.
When looking at their food quality estimates, keep in mind that the USDA, like stores and manufacturers, has to be quite cautious with their dates. They’d rather have some good meat tossed than have some people get sick. As an aside, the USDA estimate that canned meat can be eaten two to three years after purchase makes me glad I’m not a fan of Spam.
But back to food safety…Just be sure to take a common sense approach: If an item looks good to you and doesn’t smell bad (you’ll know when it does), bon appetit. If not–I often find cucumbers go bad quickly–toss it in the trash compost bin.
4 Comments
Excellent material so far. I would like to continue learning more about the different types of food expirations, and when does the large supermarket chain decide to throw it out? as soon as it expires? a few days after? what kind of quality control do they have?… these are just a few of my thoughts…keep it up!
Thanks for the feedback, Ed. While it varies by store, most supermarkets pull items the night before or early in the day on the sell-by date. I’m now writing a post with more details on the topic. Definitely chime in with more questions as they arise.
I understand that the sell-by date is the last date the store can sell an item and that certain foods like dairy products are still good after a week to use. But I have FROZEN products(sausage,etc…) that was purchased before the sell by date at least two months ago and have been in the freezer since they were purchased. Should I have cooked them by a certain date or are they still good?
I would guess they’re still good, Patti. If they’ve been frozen, they’re likely edible.
Keep in mind that I’m no food safety expert, but if anything, they may have a little freezerburn. I would imagine they’re perfectly edible. They may not taste quite as good as if you ate it two months ago, but they probably will.
Give them a quick smell before serving, but I’d go for it!
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[…] Wasted Food reader Ed was curious about sell-by dates, so let’s talk a bit more about them. While it varies by store, most supermarkets pull items the night before or on the morning of the sell-by date. Lance Parchment, Whole Foods’ Southeast region prepared foods assistant coordinator told me they cull products the night before the sell-by date. Fortunately, they give these items to a homeless shelter. But that store won’t even put a prepared food item on the shelf unless it’s more than four days before the sell-by date. […]
[…] They’d get to the orientation later, I was told, we had to “cull” all of the ”out-of-code” products. They got me an apron and pointed me to the wall-length cold case of packaged produce. Basically, I had to pull all packages with a sell-by date of that day. I’ve written before about the difference between sell-by dates and use-by dates. Items are often good up to a week past the former, but here I was yanking packages from the shelf at 8:10 on the morning of their sell-by date. […]
[…] What can I say? Before I found the Wasted Food blog I had no idea what those dates really meant. In one of his posts, Bloom explains what the sell-by/use-by dates really mean and also what they don’t. He says that generally, “most foods are fine one week past the sell-by date. Of course, this varies between products…That’s why smelling the item is a more effective guide than any date stamped on the package.â€Â (I guess my husband can do the ‘I told you so dance’ now.) […]