DON’T Throw That Away!

What if the dates on your food aren’t just there to protect you?

The FDA mandated a “Use By” date on infant formula to protect babies. Today, food packages carry dates serving very different purposes, from inventory management and freshness expectations to product positioning and marketing. Somewhere along the way, a useful idea became a confusing system that can encourage us to throw away perfectly good food.

Here’s the real truth. A date printed on food does not automatically mean the food becomes unsafe when that date passes. “Sell By,” “Best By,” “Best Before,” “Use By,” “Freeze By,” and other dates can mean very different things depending on the product and the country where it is sold.

This may surprise you. The FDA estimates that confusion over date labels contributes to about 20%, or roughly $50 billion, of consumer food waste in the United States. In the European Union, the European Commission estimates that up to 10%, or roughly €13 billion worth, of annual food waste may be linked to date marking. These are estimates, but they reveal the scale of what can happen when consumers see a printed date and interpret it as a safety issue.

Dates Do Not Mean One Thing

What You See	What It Generally Means
Sell By	Helps retailers manage inventory and how long a product remains on display. It is not automatically a safety date.
Best By / Best if Used By	Usually indicates when the product is expected to retain its best flavor, texture, appearance, or quality.
Best Before	Primarily a quality date, particularly in the European Union. Passing it does not automatically make food unsafe.
Use By	Depends strongly on jurisdiction. In the EU it is a safety date for highly perishable foods. In the U.S. it generally indicates peak quality under federal rules.
Freeze By	Suggests when freezing will best preserve quality.
Pack Date / Code Date	Identifies production or packing information and may support traceability, recalls, and stock rotation.

The United States remains particularly confusing because there is no uniform federal system for most food-date terminology. Except for infant formula, federal regulations generally do not require food dating, although individual states may impose their own rules.

The European Union is less confusing. “Use By” concerns safety on highly perishable foods, while “Best Before” concerns quality. Food past its Best Before date may still be perfectly suitable if it has been handled correctly. Yet to someone standing in front of the refrigerator or pantry, both can still feel like “throw it away” dates.

Have you noticed this pattern? Dates appear on products such as salt, honey, dried pasta, sugar, vinegar, dried herbs, tinned foods, and spices. Salt does not suddenly spoil, nor does dry pasta become unsafe because a printed quality date has passed. These are examples of how marketing and commercial practices have expanded date labeling far beyond food safety, leaving consumers increasingly unsure about what the dates actually mean.

When Marketing Joins the Date Game

oday, food dates serve purposes far beyond safety, including freshness standards, traceability, product positioning, inventory management, and marketing. A useful system has been hijacked into something much broader than food safety.

When consumers interpret Sell By, Best Before, and similar dates as “expired,” perfectly usable food is discarded and replaced. That does not mean every manufacturer deliberately shortens dates to increase sales, but consumer confusion has produced the same outcome. The European Commission has also warned that shelf life should not be shortened unnecessarily for reasons such as product marketing.

A Confusing System in a Global Food Supply

Food now crosses borders more than ever, but date labels still follow different national rules, terminology, and formats. A single shopping basket can contain products using several different systems.

At the same time, the rise of packaged, ready-made, fast, and highly processed foods means consumers encounter more labels and more dates. We have more information than ever, yet many people still cannot tell whether a date means unsafe, best quality, remove from the shelf, or simply when the product was made.

The Date Is Only One Piece of Information

The answer is not to ignore dates. Some genuinely matter, especially safety-based Use By dates. Instead, treat the printed date as one part of the decision alongside the food itself, how it has been handled, and the condition of the packaging.

Check packaging, especially swollen, leaking, badly rusted, or seriously damaged tins.

Remember that heat, moisture, broken seals, contamination, and poor storage can damage food before its printed date.

Once a product is opened, the original factory date becomes less useful.

Learn which foods are naturally stable, including salt, sugar, vinegar, dried pasta, dried legumes, many herbs and spices, and other shelf-stable foods.

Do not treat every quality date as the moment food suddenly becomes dangerous.

Read the wording, know the food, consider how it has been handled, and check its condition. Then decide whether the date is about safety, quality, inventory, or simply encouraging you to replace the product.

Try This

Fresh First: Buy more fresh, minimally packaged foods when practical. For packaged perishables, pay closest attention to genuine “Use By” safety dates.
Check Before Discarding: For quality dates such as “Best Before” or “Best By,” inspect the food and packaging before deciding to throw it away.
Watch the Packaging: Discard swollen, leaking, badly rusted, broken, or seriously damaged tins and packages.
Consider Handling: Heat, moisture, broken seals, contamination, and poor storage can make food deteriorate before the printed date.
Know Stable Foods: Learn which foods, such as salt, sugar, vinegar, dried pasta, dried legumes, herbs, and spices, can remain usable long beyond a quality date.
Freeze Early: Freeze food before it deteriorates when you know you will not use it soon.
Rotate Stock: Put older foods at the front and newer purchases behind them.

Quick summary

Treat food dates as guidance, not automatic disposal instructions. Give genuine “Use By” safety dates the most weight, especially on perishable foods, while judging quality dates alongside the food itself, its packaging, and how it has been handled. Learn which foods remain stable for long periods, rotate older products forward, and freeze food before quality declines when you know you will not use it soon.

Why This Matters

Misunderstanding food dates does more than fill household bins. It raises food costs when families throw away usable products and replace them, reduces the amount of food available across the supply chain, and adds unnecessary pressure to production and distribution.

Every discarded product has already used resources to grow or manufacture, package, transport, refrigerate, stock, collect, and dispose of it. Avoidable waste therefore means more haulage, more energy use, more packaging, and more waste management for food that may never have needed to be thrown away.

Understanding what these dates actually mean helps protect household budgets, food availability, and the environment. The goal is simple: act when safety really matters, without treating every printed date as a reason to discard food.

What Not to Do

Do Not Ignore Genuine Safety Dates: A true “Use By” date on highly perishable food should be taken seriously.
Do Not Rely on the Date Alone: Poor handling, heat, moisture, broken seals, or damaged packaging can make food unsafe before the printed date.
Do Not Keep Damaged Tins: Swollen, leaking, badly rusted, or seriously damaged tins should be discarded regardless of the date.
Do Not Treat Every Date as Expiration: “Best Before,” “Best By,” and “Sell By” are not automatic safety deadlines.
Do Not Automatically Discard Non-Perishable Foods: Quality dates on shelf-stable products do not necessarily indicate a safety limit.
Do Not Overbuy: A lower unit price is not a saving if part of the food eventually ends up in the bin.

Bottom Line

A printed date is not the same as an expiration date. Some dates protect safety, some protect quality, and some help manage inventory or marketing. The mistake is treating them all the same.

Use the date as one piece of information, then consider the food, how it was handled, and the condition of the packaging. That simple shift can reduce waste, lower household food costs, and keep perfectly usable food out of the bin.

This broader idea, learning how food systems, regulation, and marketing shape everyday choices, is also explored inEmbracing My Vitality: Living Well in the Modern World, available on Amazon worldwide.

Make Your Food Last Longer

Understanding the date is only part of the solution. How you buy, store, handle, and rotate food often determines how long it remains usable. A few simple habits can reduce waste, save money, and keep food available longer.

Store for the Product: Heat, sunlight, humidity, air exposure, and incorrect temperature can shorten food life considerably. Store each food according to what it actually needs.
Freeze Before Waste: Freeze suitable foods when you know you will not use them before their quality begins to decline.
Rotate Stock: Put older products at the front and newer purchases behind them so food does not disappear at the back of the pantry.
Check Packaging: Swollen tins, leaks, broken seals, serious rust, or damaged packaging can indicate a problem regardless of the printed date.
Buy Realistic Quantities: Bulk buying only saves money when the food is actually used.
Check Before Shopping: Look through the refrigerator, freezer, and pantry before buying more of what you already have.
Protect Dry Foods: Keep dry foods sealed and protected from heat, moisture, and pests.
Separate Opened from Unopened: Once packaging is opened, exposure to air, moisture, and microorganisms changes how long the food remains usable.
Know Your Stable Foods: Learn which non-perishable and shelf-stable foods can remain usable long after a quality date has passed.
Understand Imported Labels: Foods from different countries may use different terminology, regulations, and date formats. Do not assume every printed date means the same thing.
Use Your Senses Where Appropriate: Changes in appearance, odor, texture, or condition can help identify deterioration when the date concerns quality. Do not use this to override a genuine safety-based “Use By” date.