Before you decide to discard everything in your fridge, it’s crucial to understand what the food safety labels on the back of the products actually signify – so you don’t dispose of them unnecessarily.
It can be incredibly annoying when you’ve spent a small fortune on your weekly shop, only to find that certain items have not been consumed before their expiration date.
Let’s face it, we’ve all experienced that internal debate where you’ve cautiously opened an already opened packet of something, and given it a sniff, because the expiration date has just passed. Is it safe to consume? Will it make you sick?
It can be devastating to throw away food that appears fine, as it’s a significant waste of money.
According to Business Waste, the UK discards 9.5 million tonnes of food waste every year. While some items inevitably end up in the bin, there are some things that can still be consumed past their expiration date.
Dr Karan Raj, a doctor and NHS surgeon who frequently shares advice online, took to TikTok to caution his followers: “Before you throw away your food, make sure you’re reading the food safety labels correctly.”
If you’ve ever looked at the back of food packaging, you might have noticed different types of phrases, including ‘sell by’ and ‘use by’ dates, and these are important distinctions. “First, you’ve got ‘sell by’ dates, this is something just for the people who work in stores to know when to take their products off the shelves,” Dr Raj explained.
However, Dr Raj suggests that the decision to consume a food item should not be solely based on these dates. “This date is not a standard of food safety,” he clarified.
He also explained ‘best before’ dates as an indication of when a product will be at its best flavour or quality.
Contrary to common misconceptions, this is “not a purchase or safety date, it’s more of a ‘when is it tasty’ date,” he further elaborated. According to him, most canned food can safely be consumed “two to five years after this date as long as they’ve been stored correctly, in a cool, dry place”.
Dry rice, if stored in the box, can still be eaten “five years past this date, if stored in the box”.
Dr Raj also shed light on ‘eat by’ or ‘use by’ dates, stating: “These indicate the last day an item will be at peak quality. The only exception to this is infant formula. Do not use baby formula after this date.”
He cautioned against ignoring labels that mention a certain ‘expiry’ date, especially for meat or dairy products, advising: “If you see food labels that says something ‘expires’ on a certain date, you should probably not look to test that line.”
However, he reassured that most of the time, one can rely on their “senses to decide if something’s expired or not”. For instance, if there is “an odd smell, a changing texture or the presence of mould or bulging cans, you should probably throw it away”.