Why I eat "expired" food

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Dates on food have basically nothing to do with safety….so how DO you know if something is OK to eat?
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰 𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘁𝘆-𝗴𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘁𝘆:
-Broad Leib E, et al. (2016). Consumer Perceptions of Date Labels: National Survey, Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, National Consumer Institute and Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future. www.chlpi.org/​wp-content/​upl....
-Hall KD, et al (2009). The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impact. PLOS ONE 4(11): e7940. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone....
-NRDC (2012). Wasted: How America is losing up to 40 percent of its food from farm to fork to landfill. www.nrdc.org/food/files/wasted....
-NRDC (2013). The dating game: How confusing food date labels lead to food waste in America. www.nrdc.org/food/files/dating...
-NSW Food Authority (2010) Shelf life testing, 'Use-by” dates for food safety. www.foodauthority.nsw.gov.au.
-WRAP (2011). Consumer Insight: Date Labels and Storage Guidance. wrap.org.uk/sites/default/fil...
-Van Garde SJ, Woodburn MJ (1987) Food discard practices of householders. J Am Diet Assoc. Mar;87(3):322-9. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/3819252/
𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 (𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲) 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀:
-www.canr.msu.edu/news/food_sp...
- • Approved Food on BBC F...
-www.riskyornot.co/
-theconversation.com/how-to-av...
-www.fda.gov/consumers/consume...
-www.theguardian.com/sustainab...
- • Is moldy food really t...
𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗲𝗿-𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘁𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗶𝗰:
-Dr. Jack Avens, Professor Emeritus, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition at Colorado State University
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[@MinuteFood]

If you're new to MinuteFood, please make sure to subscribe! We're a new channel and still trying to figure out if there's a large enough audience out there, so one of the best ways you can help us keep making videos is to subscribe, watch, and share! -Kate

[@TheMagicalNam]

A tip, if you lower the temperature of the refrigerator you save lots of food and money, the food is fresh way longer, I’m talking about milk being fresh at least 4 days after it expires (depending on the country but almost guarantied) and it is better for the climate.

[@anson7064]

Now here is my question: I found this lemon curd in my fridge from who knows when I bought it, and the “expiration date” on it said best by 2018. What do I do now?

[@Blackmark52]

Best buy dates are the product of misguided good intentions. People have to learn to take them less seriously.

[@azhari7968]

I like food and I like quickie science videos so this channel is like one of my favorite thing in the world. Please keep making videos

[@ragnkja]

@@anson7064 If your senses tell you it’s good, you can most likely trust them. After all, conserves don’t usually spoil all that easily.

[@prokopdvere4004]

As some people pointed out, in the EU there are pretty much only the "best by" and "use by" labels, but iirc there is also efforts to revise that further since many people still toss food that's only passed the "best by" date (ie. it's probably still ok to eat).

[@georgeprout42]

In the UK a lot of shops now have removed "best before" dates on many products to reduce waste. There are still "use by" dates for things like meat that could cause food poisoning, but a slightly limp carrot isn't going to hurt anyone. The shops have a code printed on them so staff know when to reduce it for a quick sale or to remove it from the shelves.

[@nienke7713]

@@georgeprout42 Shop staff sometimes already fails to take stuff off the shelves when the date is printed on them, a code instead of date means a consumer can't even tell when the shop staff has failed to remove an item that should be removed

[@Pietro-qz5tm]

@@nienke7713 then what?

[@nienke7713]

@@Pietro-qz5tm I'm not sure what part you're responding to or what exactly you want to know

[@Pietro-qz5tm]

@@nienke7713 how is a problem the use of a qr code for product info not relevant to the consumer?

[@d_dave7200]

As a person who grew up working class in Europe, and then adapted to US culture I really appreciate this video. So much food gets wasted it's ridiculous. If it looks and tastes fine, I see no reason not to eat it.

[@ArchinaGM]

Late reply yet from my trip to the US I realised it wasn't just food that people in the US were wasteful on. It's almost everything. Leaving on kilowatts worth of electronics when heading out, using cars to travel to places within walking distance, etc. It was a serious culture shock to me and it's made me wonder to this day how much money could be saved on annual US bills if they used the same techniques a lot of Europeans do.

[@bird-war]

​@@ArchinaGM well about the driving walking distance thing, did you even look at an average road in the US?

[@user-rx7kk2vb4e]

@@bird-war i wouldn’t eat expired food not getting sick it’s bad for ur health

[@jgood005]

@@ArchinaGM Honestly, not as much as you'd think. This is coming from am American who tried biking to work 18 miles or 28 km round-trip. It took considerable time, effort, and saved me no more than $4/day in fuel cost. Had I gone completely car-free, I might've saved as much as $7/day counting the insurance and depreciation savings.

[@mat3271]

As said in the video, the dangerous bacteria don’t change the food’s look, taste, or touch. I pray for your current and future safety.

[@AgentM124]

Hey, You should do a video on dangerous food combinations (or myths) or reheating foods. I think that would be interesting too to know the chemistry of.

[@georgegreen1356]

+1

[@ms9001]

+1, chinese people deeply believe these myths and it drives me crazy.

[@drumbum99]

The reheating rice thing. I'm sure it's nowhere near as dodgy as people make out

[@WanderTheNomad]

On a semi-related note, I would also like to see a video on beneficial food combinations at some point

[@AgentM124]

@@WanderTheNomad that can be in the same video. Good and bad combinations.

[@KristenRowenPliske]

I throw out food when it’s visibly gross/spoiled/rotten or smells bad. My kids will warn me about an expiration date & I have to tell them it’s still good to eat. We go through milk so quickly that I don’t have to worry about it even reaching the expiration date.

[@user-rx7kk2vb4e]

I throw it out once its expired

[@bjornmu]

In Norway all food has to be labelled either "best før" (best before) or "siste forbruksdag" (last day of usage), nothing else is allowed. The "last day" variant is only for fresh meat products and a few other categories. I think maybe this is the case in the EU too? Both also mean "not legal to sell after". I often drink milk a day or two after the best before, even if it has been opened for several days.

[@NPSao]

Yeah, here in Germany food always has a "best before" (still edible after the date) or "use before" (please don't eat after the date).

[@VincentGroenewold]

True, in the Netherlands as well and it's incredibly wasteful, groceries throw away A LOT. This can't be sustained of course.

[@nienke7713]

yep, all of the EU has translations of these (official English ones are "Best before" and "Use by") The infosheet you can download here (available in 22 languages besides English if you click the "other languages" dropdown in the bottom right corner) has a lit of what these are called in all European languages: food.ec.europa.eu/document/38f092c8-ac6b-4077-b52e-4dec0714b3f4_en?filename=fw_lib_best_before_en.pdf

[@hebl47]

When I saw the confusing chaos they have in USA when it comes to these labels, I was once again reminded that being an EU citizen does have its perks.

[@BBC600]

I find milk can go bad before the date on the package. It's one thing I don't like to risk... Mind you I don't really like milk in the first place so that probably doesn't help.

[@tremkl]

Milk is definitely a diverse one. I’ve bought milk on or close to it’s expiration date, and it’s still been good for a week or two. I’ve bought milk that’s incredibly fresh that’s way before it’s date, and it’ll go bad before it’s date even arrives. Really, most of its clock doesn’t start until you open it.

[@ragnkja]

The last sentence is true for almost all packaged food.

[@ArchHippy]

In my experience, the higher the fat content, the longer it keeps. I've never opened a skimmed milk on its use by that hadn't expired. Whole milk can last for a couple more weeks. Cream and butter will keep for ages.

[@jimcrelm9478]

Making cottage cheese from surplus milk can help extend its life.

[@ExplosiveBrohoof]

This has been my experience with milk as well. I've given up on buying anything larger than a quart, because I seem to only have around 4 days to use milk before it goes bad, and I'm terrible at regularly using dairy products.

[@fireriffs]

In the store I work in, my customers can't seem to understand that the ultra pasteurized milk with a two month date will not keep two months if you open it today, or that the regular pasteurized milk will not turn to cottage cheese at the stroke of midnight of the sell by date.

[@816Human]

My mum always says, "When the food is in freezer, it is nearly never spoiled." And my freezer at home is always full of expired food. I think I have eaten expired food for 20 years already and I am still really healthy and fine.

[@shiNIN42]

When I put something into the freezer I consider its time frozen too and it's quite right. I am aware it's still not okay forever but I don't store stuff for years there :D So I have no expired food in my freezer, I have frozen food that was fine when I put there so it's fine now :)

[@WolframiteWraith]

It can end up tasting like freezer and the texture being ruined though.

[@user-rx7kk2vb4e]

@@shiNIN42 once date expires then it’s bad so

[@HayTatsuko]

I recently had a pound block of Swiss-style cheese that had gone unnoticed in the freezer for nearly two years. The texture was very off, but it was otherwise fine to eat.

[@snowassassin2177]

Probably taste freezer burned bud it's still edible

[@Ninjaeule97]

I once had to puke after eating a second batch of chili con carne that was left in the sun while we went swimming in the local lake. It still tasted the same as before (granted I wasn't sober) so I didn't expect that. So yeah don't do that. Our supermarket sells things for half price when they are close to their best buy date, never gotten sick from eating those.

[@eroraf8637]

Sprouts does that with their meat. I once got a whole 8 lb pork shoulder blade roast for $1/lb because its sell-by date was the next day. I had pulled pork for days!

[@WanderTheNomad]

So basically if you want to save money, you can buy things closer to their best by date and not have to worry(much) about getting sick, just about sacrificing the quality.

[@lordgarion514]

Actual food poisoning takes about 24 or so hours to kick in. It most likely either wasn't food poisoning, or it was what you ate the day before.

[@FunctionGermany]

though the best advice is probably to only buy what you actually use and to make sure to consume groceries before they expire. that way you ideally have no waste and don't need to scratch your head if you should still eat something or not :) that said, i regularly eat or drink expired stuff because it was forgotten, and i've never had any problems with it (because of course i throw away moldy foods)

[@Arkylie]

While it's certainly best to "live within your means" as far as buying and using food, that's easier said than done when you've got certain issues with neurodivergence and/or mental health. I typically am very interested in making XYZ while I'm at the store (e.g. curry with sauteed mushrooms), but then find that the week passes and I haven't had the spoons to actually put effort into making it. Combination of ADHD (execution function disorder) and some mental-health effect that's been sapping my energy lately. And since actually going shopping takes a certain amount of time and spoons, I typically can't use things the same day I buy them, if they require any sort of significant prep. It's why I bought in on a Kickstarter campaign for some containers that came with lifetime access to an app that should keep track of what's in my fridge. Unfortunately, out of the many Kickstarter campaigns I've backed over the past couple years, that's one of the few that hasn't been fulfilled in a relatively timely manner (adjusting for world chaos and supply-line shenanigans that have affected pretty much all the campaign fulfillment dates). Hope it eventually makes it my way, as I'd really like to not be looking at the contents of the fridge going "um... is this safe to eat or did I buy it six weeks ago? aww, I'll just make myself a can of soup, I know *that's* still good."

[@MissingRaptor]

Another reason that this may not be feasible is that, at least where I live, it's very very hard to find food in the quantity I may need for a recipe. For example say a person cooks for one regularly and wants to make something that contains leek. Well the grocery store sells leeks in units of three. The person may only need half a leek, but *must* buy 3 of them in order to make that dish. That's just an example, but one I think illustrates the problem rather well in some cases. What if your only option is to buy far far too much or not at all. I for one, would like the option to buy only one leek. I wish that was a possibility here, like it is in some countries.

[@bluesillybeard]

I often find it easier to just sample the item itself than find the date, mostly because it's a pain to figure out where it's printed lol

[@THEcowboy367]

In my household when we have milk that's past due to the date labeled we make pancakes! Good way of reusing it if no one want's to drink it due to it's being 'old'

[@fireriffs]

Several recipes call for sour milk. Great way to make use of it.

[@ZetaPyro]

In Montana, they require the sell-by dates of milk to be 12 days after pasteurization instead of the industry standard 21-24 days. The intent of the law is to be able to say that they have the freshest milk in the country, but the reality is that so much more milk just ends up getting thrown out when it's still perfectly good.

[@crumb2380]

Why? Does Montana feel it has nothing else going for it, it has to have the freshest milk lol?

[@FairMiles]

YES! Thanks, Kate. As usual, regulatory stuff in USA is crazier than almost anywhere else (see comments), which tend to go to just two important dates: "best by" (useful for selling/buying decisions) and "expired by" (safety standards). Individual decisions on consumption should not be determined by any of those (though closer to the latter), particularly for foods that were specifically designed for preservation (e.g., yoghurt).

[@hectorh.micheos.1717]

This is one of those things that should be in the adult life manual, my SO threw so much food by without a second thought.

[@rodrigojds]

sorry to say this but your SO isn't the brightest bulb if they do that without a second thought. :/

[@robertwalton1054]

That sounds like my kind of woman

[@bluefox5331]

I fight about this with my mom. She tossed half my spices when she cleaned the cabinet because they were "expired" (still good, dry and not spoiled...). Same with grains.. or legumes... this time I saved them and will cook with them as they're still good.

[@tobinsyoutubechannel2200]

As someone who was unfamiliar with food safety and always erred on the side of "safety" by throwing away food that had passed the date, this has totally changed my perspective. Thanks for the video and for making a positive change in not just me but I'm sure many others!

[@alee_ramm]

Now think ab how all food waste contributes to world hunger, if someone sees a date near “expired” time…they won’t pick it up at the store, prob the store will end up throwing it away, in Mexico 1/3 of the food produces is wasted, and we have 26 million people in hunger 🤯

[@PockASqueeno]

I use a combination of apps to prevent food waste. One is called FoodKeeper. Whenever I get home from a grocery trip, I look up the item in the app, and it says exactly how, where, and how long it should be stored. Then I set an alarm to throw it out-or just refrigerate or freeze it-on that date. I also have a cooking app called Mealime. You just choose the things you already have in your pantry, and then it shows you recipes that use those ingredients. The app knows that, for example, canned tomatoes typically come in 15 oz. cans, so it’ll pick two recipes for you with 7 oz. of tomatoes so that you don’t have to throw out half of the canned tomatoes. Both of these apps have been life savers to me, and they’re free. They’re fun to use too, if you enjoy cooking like me.

[@subhasish-m]

I love the Adam Ragusea shoutout!

[@victor-oh]

? Where is it

[@Octoschizare]

I live alone and that makes it hard to eat everything before "expiry/BB" dates, or to consume within a respectable passage of time after opening something or cooking something. I pretty much ignore the printed dates except to choose which of the expired foods should be eaten with priority. If it looks fine and it smells fine, then taste a bit. If it taste normal, I eat it without any hesitation. I push the limits and eat some questionably old and very sub-optimal things, yet I never get sick from food.

[@corwin32]

I think the cookie company needs to screen its testers a bit more stringently

[@djones02]

Thanks, I've tried to explain this to people for a long time. They get very emotional about how food can't be eaten past the "expiry date". It's not even called that most of the time. The milk will just start having a slightly off smell and taste after that date.. most of the time. If it's never opened and left in the fridge the entire time it can still taste good a week or 2 past the date. If it's left on the counter all day it will go bad really quick. When I was a student I often cut mold off the cheese block. Food mold is pretty harmless, especially if it's cut off. Cold cuts can be gross and dangerous if it's more than a few days past the consume by date.

[@nienke7713]

In the EU we have "best before" and "use by" (and equivalents in other European languages, e.g. in Dutch "tenminste houdbaar tot"(THT) and "te gebruiken tot"(TGT)). "Best before" dates are on products where you should be able to use your senses to judge if the product is still edible. It's probably best to eat them before this date because you'll have more certainty that you won't be wasting food, and that it's still tasty, but don't throw it out before using your senses to judge if it's still okay. The date is useful to stores for when they shouldn't sell the product anymore, and for consumers to have a guideline for when it's best to finish it to take into account in mealplanning and such. "Use by" is on products which are particularly prone to pathogens which you cannot sense. It is discouraged to eat these after the date has passed (on the date itself is okay), even if they still look/smell/taste alright.

[@nienke7713]

If you want to learn more, you can download an infosheet on it from this page: food.ec.europa.eu/document/38f092c8-ac6b-4077-b52e-4dec0714b3f4_en?filename=fw_lib_best_before_en.pdf The standard version is in English, but in the bottom right there's also an option to find it in 22 other languages

[@DC_DC_DC_DC]

I find it annoying when manufacturers don't state how long you have after opening for example a jar, flask or tube of something, like a sauce. I eat way too little sambal/hot sauce, or ketchup. On some of these products that can be kept extremely long (THT 2024) all they state is "beperkt houdbaar" after opening, meaning "can't be kept very long". How much is that? Am I safe to eat the sambal or hot sauce a year after opening if it still smells and looks okay? It's annoying.

[@MinuteFood]

Microbes are NOT fans of hot sauce...you should be fine :)

[@nienke7713]

@@DC_DC_DC_DC if it just says "beperkt houdbaar" I think the best way to interpret it is "if it still looks, smells, and tastes fine, it's fine, it might just not last as long as the unopened 'best before' (THT) date"

[@locomotivetrainstation6053]

That's what I do

[@VKSgtSLaughter]

With the rising costs of food this is valuable information. Thank you, keep up the great work! 👍

[@adlsfreund]

So just to be clear, we're talking about unopened products, not the "use within X days after opening" labels.

[@Octoschizare]

That counts too. If it looks fine, and smells fine, and taste fine, then it's fine.

[@shiNIN42]

It works with several items that way too. Sour cream or drier sausage, they last weeks after opened according to my experience (I never open them super close to expiration date but I easily wait weeks). The sausage label says 2 days after opening but it's the same after 2 weeks... As a dry sausage should so I always ignored those things.

[@finalbarrage7108]

In norway we only have two lables. "Best By", indicating a decrease in quality. and "Last Consumptionday", often for meats and foods that can be harmfull after they expire.

[@Ana36377]

Where I’m from (Indonesia) and where I currently live (the UK) usually only has ‘best before’ dates… and even then sometimes I ignore them. Mainly because I feel horrible for wasting food and if it still looks and smells normal I’ll still eat it. I think in the UK some fruits and vegetables no longer have a ‘best before’ date to reduce food waste and I don’t ever recall a ‘best before’ date on my fruits and vegetables growing up (then again we buy our fruit and veg by weight in Indonesia so it makes little sense to slap a date there when we tend to pick our fruit and veg by feel).

[@ragnkja]

Loose produce never has any expiry date stuck on it anywhere, does it?

[@Natalia-09]

The day I realized those dates were bs is when I was volunteering at a low income grocery store. This particular store took on food from supermarkets that had past the best by or sell by date. We had to read what the date was and how long past the date the store would sell it when we put food out on the shelves. I quickly realized that the date is arbitrary and that if my milk is three days past expired I’ll be ok.

[@dipdip7250]

0:30 one label says “get schwifty before”

[@bandiddums]

I've always thought about how they determine these dates in the labels, like do they do some specific tests to see when the food will expire or something? But it makes a lot of sense that they're dates for when the food is best to eat, not when they expire

[@the1337fleet]

I always say to check the quality yourself rather than blindly following the dates. If you store your food properly, you're probably fine. Eggs are a great example. You can still eat eggs several months after the "best by" date. How can you tell? Not even the float test. Crack one open and smell it! Basically, use your eyes and nose, not the "sell by" or "best by" dates that encourage you to spend more.

[@Zeverinsen]

In a country every food product needs a "best before" or "use before" date. The "best before" label is used on products that are still safe to consume after said date (like milk), and the "use before" is printed on products that you should be careful eating after said date (like seafood). They've even started printing "often great after" next to the "best before" marking on dairy products, because they last A LOT longer than the marked date, just to remind people that "best before" doesn't mean it has gone bad. I don't know how I'd be able to trust the marking if there were over 40 of them though LMAO

[@OzzieStorm]

A way to midigate the whole problem is to not buy in bulk. I've made it a habit to get weekly groceries rather than montly, that way i plan my meals as well as cobtroll my finances more effectively all while avoiding getting to much of a thing to not use it.

[@superhereaux]

Depends on who you ask. We buy meat, rice, pasta, canned goods, peanut butter, bread and frozen food in bulk. Bread and meat can be frozen easily. I'll buy fruit in bulk and dehydrate it. Lasts a long time. Besides milk and fresh fruit, we rarely go to the supermarket.

[@shiNIN42]

I have one big shopping once a month when we visit the city,. Tiny village shops have pathetic variety and often not so good prices. It's still okay, I very nearly never throw away any kind of food... And it's not just buying in bulk. It's not so easy to finish a single package in time. I don't buy wine as I am unable to drink it in a week but I do like to have quark or cream, for example... I am not bad with consume things until I use them up but even I need some help sometimes and some days one just doesn't fancy what they "should" eat... I have expired quark in my fridge now, I don't fancy it now. And I used it as much as I wanted, my SO ate some too... I never would throw it out though, my cats like it even slightly off ;) By the way, I can't plan my meals. Even if I make my meal, put it on a tray and make a photo... I almost never end up eating exactly that. Good I am fine with few days old food, I need that. But there is the freezer too so no problem, most of my dishes are freezable. And most of my ingredients are that too. I put almost all the meat I buy in my big shopping trip into the freezer right away. We still should buy food we surely will want to eat and not in too big amounts but monthly shopping is still an option if we do it right. And we don't buy much of something we can buy locally later.

[@jasonreed7522]

My dad has a saying "When in doubt, throw it out." Food poisoning (technically food born illness) sucks and isn't worth trying to penny pinch. (Including all the associated cost of production & distribution). The most important thing to preventing domestic food waste is only buying what you need / know will get eaten. And secondly buy what you know will last, frozen and canned foods are very stable and can be better quality than the "fresh" produce at a grocery store.

[@petpaltea]

That's true. In every sense, personal, health, economic, an so on, it is better to be careful. But careful means precisely what is said in the video: not trowing away food that basically cannot spoil so quickly as it's labbeled, and relying on your senses.

[@danieljensen2626]

Yeah, but the point of the video is you shouldn't "doubt" just based on the date on the label (unless it's like really ancient) . You gotta at least smell it first, but sure, if I'm not sure after that I'll toss things.

[@Sean_735]

"When in doubt, 165F or higher."

[@reidflemingworldstoughestm1394]

You should watch the video. Food poisoning is not caused by bacteria that makes food less palatable. Decreased palatability (taste, feel, etc) is the ONLY thing the expiration dates are concerned with.

[@smurfyday]

Following advice that sounds good but isn't backed up by facts, and in fact disproven by this video. Yeah, great scientific thinking there.

[@6lbs._onion]

Just yesterday I unsealed a milk carton with a month left on the date, yet it's already spoiled (I think). There weren't even any curdled chunks in the carton, it even looked rather normal. However, it tasted watery and was lightly sour.. like yogurt now that I think about it. So yeah, I really don't understand the dates and what to be trusted on them labels no more. This impeccably well-timed video does help, though.

[@eroraf8637]

Sounds like improper temperature management. Probably a refrigeration issue in transit or at the store. Unless you left it in a hot car on a long shopping trip, but you wouldn’t do that, right?

[@ragnkja]

For cheese, the “best before” date means that the label is no longer accurate. It definitely doesn’t mean it’s automatically bad, just that if you don’t like mature cheese you might not want it.

[@fireriffs]

It's cheese. Other than mold there really isn't much that can go bad with it.

[@KaiserMattTygore927]

Frozen food might be safe to eat "Forever" but it sure isn't actually edible for that long. Freezer burn is no joke.

[@microwave221]

Glad to know I haven't been crazy for largely ignoring expiration dates for any purpose other than getting an idea of how old something is.

[@lysun83]

In Italy there are only 3 types of date: expire date you shouldn't eat it, consume preferably before date you can eat it but it's quality it's not acceptable mainly nutritions value degradation, and packaging date for meats and fishes where the date depends too much on variables and processed in place by sellers.

[@IvayloBelev]

THANK YOU for this video! I never look at the expiration date and I've been telling people around me also not to. My record is to eat food 8 years after it "expired"; and 17 years for home produced food.

[@malthekjrbendtsen194]

In Denmark we have a "Best before, often good after" date on some products

[@k3nn28]

Hahaha, so funny. Cookie monster was also a participant. 🤣😂 We're also aware about that expiry date but the determination for me is to analyse the food and look out for signs of molds or if it really looks unsafe to eat, if that helps. We've actually eaten already expired and way off foods made in USA but we didn't get sick. 🤪

[@angelindenile]

Thanks for this. While i can't follow these 'rules' of expired food (i have a dietary issue), i see so much get tossed out because of an expired date. I'll be sending this to people i know for sure.

[@Daniel-yy3ty]

I just finished some blue cheese that "expired" mid march... Best blue cheese I ever had (the package was sealed until last week, don't leave unsealed blue cheese in the fridge for months >_>)

[@lool8421]

the expiration date is just a suggestion tbh, you have senses of smell and taste to tell if something is off sometimes when i consume dairy products, even if those are expired by a week, if those don't have weird tastes and smells, i can eat it and be fine (not counting lactose intolerance stuff, but symptoms are basically always the same), but usually when 2-3 weeks pass, stuff seems to taste sour

[@Gillsing]

For milk I used to squeeze the air out of the cartons in order to have it keep for longer.

[@Cau_No]

Be reminded that it reads "best by/before" and not "absolute deadly from …". And if the food spoils while it is still under wraps there might have already something in the production process or the transport gone wrong.

[@redo1700]

My neighbor used to be a truck driver for a dairy company. He delivered their products to the grocery stores, and retired the stock that "expired". A lot of that stock ended up in my place. I've eaten tons of "expired" yogurt, drank lots of "expired" milk, and I never had any problem related to it, not even once.

[@finalbarrage7108]

i work in a grocery store, and this has bothered me for a long time... all i throw away is expired meat.

[@refresh_tv6825]

And sometimes food spoils before the listed dates (I'm talking to you, all you half gallons of milk that I only realize is sour after you're already in my mouth!), so I've largely given up on the dates and look, touch (where applicable), smell, and taste in that order to determine if something is still worth putting in my mouth.

[@beesilverbee]

I've been on this soap box for decades! Most of these dates started for store rotation reasons, and in the USA, the only item requiring an "expiration" date is baby formula (by the FDA). I once was doing a little research myself, came across a question by a lady as to whether she should or should not use a packaged cake mix if it reached it's best by/expiration date. She added another comment a few days later that she threw it out on the expiration date because she "didn't want to (risk) poisoning her family". So much waste out there because of these nonsensical dating practices.

[@HebaruSan]

For context, that 50 lbs of wasted food is 2.5% of the amount we successfully shoved down our gobs. So probably within the expected margins of a food system.

[@fireriffs]

Eggs are generally good for about 4 weeks past the sell by date if stored properly. I've eaten salad dressing up to a year past the date on package and it was fine.

[@adolchrystin]

The problem is... I can't quite tell if something is bad just by smell and sight. And I got sick a lot because of this.

[@6023barath]

Thanks, this was quite informative!

[@TheMakerOfShoes]

Congrats on 100k!

[@HarpaxA]

Great Importance that was missed in this video. All those dates only applies *BEFORE* you opened the package. Once opened, it's anybody guesses.

[@funnymanclayman]

Congrats on 100k subs!

[@marcuslingus]

Love this one! Waiting for the mold version of this! Blue cheese with mold has gone bad or gotten better? This question has been keeping me up at night for quite some time!

[@ragnkja]

Cheese in general is an interesting food type when it comes to “best before” labelling, because that date doesn’t actually say anything about quality, just whether the label is still accurate. If you like mature cheese, you probably prefer “expired” cheese.

[@fractalgem]

I generally toss visibly moldy cheese. I don't necessarily know whether that mold is a safe one like the one used to make the cheese or something really nasty. Better safe than sorry.

[@ragnkja]

@@fractalgem Yeah, mould of unknown origin is too risky.

[@mortalslide]

In Canada, I generally only see "best before" labels on food, and I always tell people a "best before" date is not the same thing as a "worst after" date, if you will.

[@DoctorX17]

Personally I usually use the dates as a “inspect this before eating” thing - if it still looks OK I’ll usually just eat it. I also will continue to drink milk that actually has gone a bit sour - I *can not* notice the change if using it in food, and generally can finish off a slightly sour gallon with the assistance of some chocolate syrup. Then there’s also that giant bottle of ketchup that I found in the back of the cabinet over 7 years after the listed date, and then used over the course of 3 years, sitting unrefrigerated in my office at work, with no ill effects. And the 15 year old honey. Like you said, some things really never go bad!

[@ArchinaGM]

Honey is basically impossible to expire on it's own. Sure it may crystallise yet that's only because the glucose inside is separating from the water (essentially drying up.) Tomato sauce is generally fine mostly due to the massive sugar content (however tomato puree can go mouldy if left out in the open) whereas for milk I'd personally throw it out once it goes sour yet that's more due to the flavour than safety.

[@DoctorX17]

@@ArchinaGM yeah, milk usually isn’t even dangerous when it’s essentially cheese XD it makes you sick from the texture and flavor first… acidic stuff usually lasts longer. I’ve heard of honey that was thousands of years old and still edible

[@userfindingself]

In India we usually have 'use by' and 'best before' dates on food products, 'expiry date' on medecine.

[@ornessarhithfaeron3576]

In the EU too!

[@hoodio]

the video the internet needed

[@wallareekelkar9458]

The animated milk carton had "MELK" written on it 🤣🤣🤣

[@HalfDoughnut]

took me way too long to learn this. great to know!

[@thebjo0122]

man I love this, and its so underrated

[@danieljensen2626]

I don't even really look at expiration dates unless I've completely forgotten when I bought something. And even then I'll still pretty much always smell it first.

[@gustavosaid6549]

Ever since I started living alone my rule of thumb is to add 50% of the shelf life to the shown expiration date

[@davigirardi7671]

For some foods and beverages, the expiration date is due to package deterioration or package properties rather than the contents. Soda expirantion dates varies according to its package (and so does the taste). The carbon dioxide gas has a small difussibility in PET bottles, so it's possible that an old soda plastic bottle loses its gaseous content even without ever being opened. There's a field called Smart Packaging that covers more about this, but I lack expertise in that area.

[@CharleneCTX]

For most things, I use the dates to let me know what's oldest and should be used first / next. Some things do go off, though. We had some pancake mix that I figured would be fine past it's date and the oil in the mix had turned rancid. Probably not wouldn't make you sick, but definitely not nasty to eat. I also had an expired corn bread mix. The baking powder in it becomes less effective, so it didn't rise at all. Tasted fine; just really, really dense.

[@TriggaTreDay]

Funny story; my husband is really bad at checking things such as expiration dates. One night we were eating hot wings and for some reason I thought the ranch didn’t taste how I’m use to it tasting. I just assumed it was the brand and went to go an get the other one we had in the frig. But something told me to check the expiration date because he’s always somewhere feeding us expired food. I looked at the date and it dated back 8months 🤯😡. Boy was I mad at him!!! 😂😂😂. He couldn’t tell the difference because he had been eating it weekly. It had just so happened to be one of the bottles that got pushed to the back of the frig. Well needless to say, he continues eating it and I no longer let him feed me anything without showing me the expiration date first. So yes, it was expiring and in the process no one got sick. But I no longer throw out canned goods or frozen food. Whatever ingredients we don’t eat I mix it into my homemade dog food. I am happy to say that we no longer waste food in our house and I’m super grateful for it, because lots of food use to get canned 🗑️ in this house 😅.

[@ImMamba]

In the UK "best before(by)" dates were abolished about 10 years ago. Now we are only allowed use by, which means it's not good after this

[@Alkaris]

I never throw out or waste food, and never go by the Sell By or Use By dates because they're just a guideline for stores to throw them out by that date, most stores will often reduce price on them by affixing a sticker to mark them to half-price if they're meant to be gone by those dates specified.

[@Terrinist]

I eat expired bread because I like to murder molds on the bread in my chunky stomach

[@AlexanderVonMalachi]

I ate canned buckwheat with beef and vacuum-packed parmesan cheese that were both more than 2 years behind the date, and they were perfectly fine. That cheese was amazing, honestly. Buckwheat was okay, but that brand have always been just okay. Oh, and curdled milk is an entire new dimension. I think kefir is Georgian fermented milk and been widely adopted by USSR, along with dozens of other different types of fermented milk.

[@ragnkja]

That parmesan was just extra well aged, which is a desirable quality in that type of cheese. And as long as the tin hasn’t corroded, hermetically preserved food stays good indefinitely.

[@AlexanderVonMalachi]

@@ragnkja yeah, I remember looking at that vacuum-sealed wedge of cheese and thinking that it's going to be amazing. Now I'm suffering, because most affiodable parmesan-likes are 4 to 6 months and barely taste of anything.

[@ragnkja]

@@AlexanderVonMalachi In that case it’s too fresh to be parmesan. The absolute minimum is 12 months (somehow only 10 months in the US), although the average for proper Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is around two years.

[@ragnkja]

@@AlexanderVonMalachi What you have is probably Reggianito, an Argentinian parmesan-like cheese that’s made in smaller wheels and aged for 5-6 months.

[@AlexanderVonMalachi]

@@ragnkja both that or local made quite young attempts at parmesan. They rarely let cheese mature properly here, because time is money. Or I just need to buy much more expensive cheeses, but screw that.

[@gustavostefanini2898]

In Brazil we dont really use "best buy" or "best consummed" tags. Tags on food are validated, regulated and generally set by the national sanitary agency, so the "valid untill" tag is to tell you when the food has a great chance to have become unsafe for your health. Milk products or other more unsafe beverages and food have this tag also related to the ambient where its kept, like "consume up to 3 days after opened" or "up to 2 weeks in the fridge" etc.

[@gustavostefanini2898]

also, frozen food generally dont have these tags, because if kept frozen it doesnt go bad.

[@lanychabot-laroche135]

I've been doing dumpster diving for almost 10 years, and it's insane what is thrown out for absolutely ridiculous reasons.

[@noahmurtland]

Restaurant we always look at the use by and freeze by so we can keep track of the freshness

[@drgeniusphd]

please keep making these!!!!!!

[@ketsuekikumori9145]

I think the only reliable expiration dates (in my experience) are drugs. For example, I need to use antihistamine eye drops during allergy season, but I don't always use the whole thing. So any leftover for next season, would have lost it's full effectiveness, often not relieving the eye itch at all.

[@d_dave7200]

So the advice with medication is to stick to the expiry date, but that's mostly about risk mitigation: > If someone gets a less effective dose it could be a real problem for their health > Some rare cases of medications actually can be dangerous after expiry, and > It can cause issues with misuse of drugs. So at a minimum you should always google the specific medication before taking something after expiry. That said, it wouldn't be correct to say those dates are reliable either. Drugs in pill form are actually extremely shelf stable. Typically drugs lose their potency gradually over time, but the dates tend to be quite conservative, at least in the US. Some drugs also lose potency faster than others. Even with your antihistamine example, it depends how strong an effect you actually need. For example, since I don't have serious allergies, a degraded antihistamine would still work fine for me. I personally use expired drugs I know are safe (according to data) unless I want to make sure I get the fullest possible effect. But then I also have the background and skills to do the research and check. If in doubt, throw it out should definitely apply to drugs.

[@basieluxanno7909]

in Europe you have mostly only 2 options: best before and consumed before, that makes it easier

[@Yupppi]

In Finland the expiration dates are related to undesired bacteria content build up rates to a certain level. And the best before dates for when it for example loses its consistency like milk separating.

[@ped-away-g1396]

it's ridiculous when you think about it. "hurry up!! shove it down, midnight is just a few minutes away!!"

[@NiyaKouya]

A German TV show once did an episode about wasted food, and they asked their viewers to look for anything "expired" they could bring in for sampling/testing. A big family with a HUGE fridge found a pack of yoghurt that was 2+ years(!) beyond its "best before" date, but since the seal was still intact (and the cooling chain wasn't broken) it was totally fine to eat. And I personally prefer certain soft-ish cheese types (like Limburger) when they're close to their BBD. Oh, and AFAIK the EU is starting to remove nonsensical BBDs from products that literally last forever (like salt and hard noodles).

[@kyokoyumi]

I only throw food out if it's obviously gross. But I also find myself checking the dates on *everything* I pick up. It bothers me lmao

[@locomotivetrainstation6053]

At the store I always check the date before buying it, but it's good to use senses after the date

[@SnakeAndTurtleQigong]

Thank you so much! This is a pet peeve of mine. ❤

[@SalehSaleh-oz6bq]

? By mona noorchaalida

[@LauraEarthDragon]

In our household, Yogurt particularly is never thrown away. We eat it plain or make the 'Raita' when it's fresh. When it gets slightly sour & fermented we put it in curries and stews. When it gets more pungent we add an egg and a tablespoon of honey in 1/2 cup of the yogurt and make a hair mask. Makes your hair softer, shiny, and less dry. Never got sick from eating yogurt like that in my 34 years of life.

[@-beee-]

Wow, I didn't know that re: pathogenic vs spoilage bacteria! I remember learning about some cases of eating rotten meats or what-have-you that didn't go as badly as I might've guessed, but I didn't realize that pathogens were so hard to detect!

[@rantingrodent416]

I've generally found that milk curdles not long after the best before date, at least here in Canada.

[@MsL4Vi]

I'm from Perú, where we have a strict regulation about expiration dates and periods when the food could be safely in store shelves My mom is a wonderful and the safest home cook and she has always been very relaxed about expiration dates and more worried about texture, odor and color of fresh food. Now we joke about her proving food limits but she goes to that extreme only eating by herself, we've never been food poisoned by her n.n

[@AstorEzequiel]

It would be better if the label says "Check status after: "

[@sadmanh0]

in Canada I've only seen "best buy", and I have keep trying to explain to ppl that best buy just means that, it's not gone bad.

[@cyrilmarasigan7108]

I only looked for expiration date otherwise it was confusing since there is many labels that wasn't probably mean the the product is expired and still can consume if it was placed in refrigerators like milk, meat and fish

[@alexmueck8558]

4:06 specifically for yogurt, the date is most likely based off of it's pH. Yogurt slowly acidifies as it sits on the shelf, to a point where the manufacturer deems it too sour. So if it you eat it passed the code date and it's not moldy, it's likely just a little more sour and totally safe to eat 👍

[@HayTatsuko]

My main concern is with dairy and bakery products. I don't care about the expiry date -- if my milk doesn't smell sour or look off, I'll happily use it up. If the bread looks and smells okay and doesn't have any obvious mold, it's fine. Hard cheeses with mold? Cut off a 1" radius around the moldy areas and enjoy the rest. Soft cheeses or sour cream gone moldy? -- toss 'em. Same with any sort of bread that's gone moldy -- the fruiting bodies you can see on the surface are just the tip of a large mass of hyphae that likely have infiltrated the entire bread or soft cheese.

[@goosewithagibus]

I frequently use food without regard for the dates once I realized they're usually just about quality not safety.

[@masterimbecile]

As ever, dating is incredibly difficult and confusing nowadays.

[@mistOmeter]

general rule of thumb sell by: perfectly safe if it goes past it, it's just there for the store use by: throw away if it's past this date best before: will be fine to eat, just won't be as tasty

[@Mystro256]

Yogurt is usually good for a while past the date, it just get more sour, likely from the live bacteria cultures I think. I throw it when I see mold or it tastes bad.

[@ThePenguinMan]

Another thing I hate about expire dates is how hidden they are. I have to search for expiration dates and I hate it. They also put it in such small print, so that I need a magnifying glass just to read it.