January 6, 2019

The Difference Between Best Before End and Use By Dates

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Having a clear idea of the difference between Best Before End and Use By dates could make a really big difference to the amount of food that gets thrown away in your household. In the U.K we’ve come to rely heavily on these metrics to tell us about the quality and the safety of our food. But how accurate are they really? And could not knowing be costing you hundreds of pounds in wasted food each year?

One of the biggest things I recommend doing to save money on the weekly shop is to buy yellow sticker food. However, I know a lot of people are put off doing this because of the food being so short-dated. People worry it could make them ill or it will go off before they can eat it.

The Difference Between Best Before End and Use By

What Is A Best Before Date?

Best before is used as an indicator of the quality of food. Food can be completely safe to eat and perfectly palatable for a long time, even decades, after this date provided it has been stored correctly and the outside remains undamaged.

There is just a small chance it might not be at its absolute best. All tins, jars and dried goods have a best-before date but on the whole, these can be taken with a very large pinch of salt.

Essentially, ignore them unless the food is showing serious signs of deterioration. Tesco has even started to remove some Best Before End dates from their foods in a bid to reduce waste.

This story is a fine example of food not going off: Man eats 50-year-old tinned chicken.

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What Is A Use By Date?

Use by is the date given to ready-to-eat and perishable foods that should potentially be eaten. Supermarkets, restaurants and anywhere selling food are required by law to adhere to these dates. Food found past these dates on premises selling or serving food would be considered a massive breach of health and safety.

However, what you do about use-by-dates in your own home is entirely up to you. If you buy fresh food with today’s date as it’s use-by date, it is not going to make you ill at one minute past midnight.

Using sensible judgement on the feel and smell of the food is fine and should serve you well. Of course, I’m much more careful with things like raw chicken and pork than I would be with sponge pudding.

Consumers not having a clear understanding of this is something that I feel contributes hugely to food waste in the U.K. I recently watched a news story on food waste where a man admitted to throwing away food two or three days before its use-by date as he felt that meant it had started to reduce in quality!

It’s also worth remembering that traditional shopkeepers such as greengrocers, butchers and fishmongers don’t put a use-by date on the majority of their products so we are using our own best judgements some of the time anyway.

Related Posts:

Can You Eat Out of Date Chocolate?

Should You Eat Out Of Date Food?

Is It Okay To Eat Potatoes That Have Sprouted?

Can I Get Food Poisoning From Out Of Date Food?

One of the most popular posts on this blog is all about takeaway leftovers and whether they are safe to eat the next day. Provided food is only one or two days passed its use-by date and has been stored correctly in the fridge or freezer then I think it is extremely unlikely it would give anyone food poisoning.

It’s worth remembering that there are lots of things that can cause food poisoning – not just food being ‘off’. Undercooked poultry is one of the biggest causes of food poisoning and cross-contamination from washing raw meat or sharing utensils is also a major contributor.

We tend to automatically blame food poisoning on the last meal that we ate, particularly if we ate at a restaurant and didn’t cook the food ourselves when in actual fact, there are a lot of strains that can take days or even weeks to take effect and make us unwell.

What To Do With Short-Dated Food

If you are worried about short-dated food going off, here are a few things you can do:

Freeze it – don’t forget to label it with the date it was frozen and a reminder that it’ll need cooking or using up as soon as it’s been defrosted.
Cook it – once cooked raw food should be fine for several days.
Cook and Freeze – Batch cooking and freezing food is a great way to use up odds and ends that are just past their use-by dates.