If the date is late, should you pitch it?

The best-before stamp on food originated as a guide to quality, not safety

— Should you worry about eating food if the best-before date has come and gone?

Best-before dates, sometimes called durable-life dates, are required on food with a shelf life of less than 90 days, like milk.

Products with an expected shelf life of more than 90 days, like canned tomatoes and dry pasta, need not be labelled because the dates are not tied into safety.

“The dates originated as an inventory management tool,” says Getty Stewart, a home economist in Winnipeg. “They are really all about the quality, freshness, taste, colour of the product.”

But once a jar or package is opened, the best-before date is irrelevant because its internal atmosphere has been disturbed.

Food safety and longevity are then up to how the item is handled by the consumer — milk left on the counter or groceries left too long in a hot car won’t keep as long.

“The rule of thumb is that you smell it and you look at it — and literally that’s the best thing,” says Keith Warriner, a professor of food science at the University of Guelph.

“The best-before date is only a guide. If you’ve abused it, it’s going to spoil much quicker. So use your senses — and your senses are very good because they can smell when things aren’t right.”

While Health Canada advises not to consume any food past its bestbefore date, Stewart calls that advice “just way too conservative and leads to food waste.”

Typically, people are throwing away perfectly good food, says Warriner.

“Sometimes retailers don’t want a long shelf life because if they can sell products and you throw them out, you’re going to go back and get some fresh ones,” says Warriner.

He advises sticking to the bestbefore date for deli meats, hotdogs and cream cheese. Their high moisture content can support the growth of listeria.

Consumers should also be wary of vacuum-sealed ready-to-eat meals, which have a 15-day shelf life “because of botulism risk, even though they might taste and look good,” says Warriner.

Retail-packed items must have a “packaged on” date plus a “best before” or “use by” date. This applies to cut-up fruit and vegetables, store-packed meats, and bread, muffins and cakes baked on the premises.

Warriner is often asked whether it’s OK to cut mould off fruit and eat the seemingly unaffected portion.

“I always advise not to do that. With fruit, especially, if you get mould growth you could potentially have mycotoxins, which don’t kill you instantly but they’re not good for you. They’re carcinogenic.”

Expiry dates fall into a different category altogether. They are required on only a few products in which the nutritional components must be guaranteed.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency recommends these products not be consumed past the expiry date. They should be discarded.

You don’t have to throw out something that’s past its best-before date, but you should throw out meats and dairy. The best test to determine safety is to sniff the food, experts say.