How accurate are ‘use by’ dates?

A friend and I were discussing ‘use by' dates earlier and we both agreed we rarely use them, preferring in most cases to use our senses. In the ‘nanny state' we live in consumers are brainwashed and there's no doubt that many tonnes of good wholesome food are thrown away every day because the ‘use by' date expired a day or so ago.

I'm sure food manufacturers err on the side of caution when determining shelf life and specifying ‘use by' dates to give themselves a cushion of X days over the real safe to eat date to account for any delays in the supply process etc.

I wonder if anyone has some real examples? I.e. yoghurt - specified shelf life 7 days actual safe to eat time 14 days (providing storage conditions are maintained).

Of course this is just for research and we wouldn't advise anyone to eat food after the ‘use by' date has expired - would we?

Regards,
Simon

Our main product is vinegar which does not need to have any type of best before or use by date on it, although some of our customers ask for a best before date to be printed on. Some have 12 months, some 18, some 24 months.

I think this goes to show how muchuse best before dates really are.

Personally, as long as the product has been stored coreectly, I don't have a problem eating foods past their dates, whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger!!

Nadine

This point was made by my son (at the time he was only 6).

In the 'olden days' if you wanted to preserve something you picked it - why then is there a 'use by date' on pickling vinegar (and items pickled)?

Sometimes you have to wonder that if some decisions were made by young children instead of 'highly qualified experts' everything would be a lot simpler and things would only be present that were actually needed (and a lot easier in most cases for the average person to understand).

This point was made by my son (at the time he was only 6).

Hi Bonno,

I had the same doubt and found out this link, recently updated NZFSA shelf life of food

The reason some customers like a shelf life on their vinegar is due to the risk of a bacterial growth (Acetobacter xylinium). This bacteria is completely harmless and, according to my Gran, used to be a sign of a good vinegar. As this vinegar looks like a ball of slime, people don't really see it as a good thing, hence the Best before dates.

Some customers don't bother, they rely on people using the vinegar before the bacteria grows.

Nadine

I had the same doubt and found out this link, recently updated NZFSA shelf life of food

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Great link Franco - thanks!



Did you know seventeen million tonnes of surplus food is dumped on landfills every year in the UK? Of the 17 million tonnes of waste food, four million tonnes is edible. The cost of this waste if around £18 billion annually. By the way this is just the retailers waste; it doesn't include what we wasteful consumers throw away.

SUPERMARKET LANDFILLS

Regards,
Simon

Listen to last night's Radio 4 programme on the same subject:

Costing the Earth

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