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There's two kinds of expiration date. There's the "this product may not be sold (and should probably not be used) after this date) which for example applies to

There's two kinds of expiration date. There's the "this product may not be sold (and should probably not be used) after this date) which for example applies to minced meat and other perishable goods that spoil in dangerous ways. Be super-careful if you use products of that kind after the date. (Verfallsdatum in german) Then there's the "best before" date which is the date that the vendor guarantees that the product tastes and behaves as expected. After that date, self-raising flour may not raise as expected and you'll get a brick instead of a cake. Or condiments may not add any taste, leaving you with a bland mass of meat instead of a spicy chili. (Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum in german) You as a customer are free to disregard both kinds of expiry dates, the difference is that the first kind indicates a danger to your health, while the second kind mostly indicates a danger to the taste and texture of your food.

semi-extrinsic 10y ago
I know there is a push to change EU regulations to allow longer "best before" dates on foods we know keep "indefinitely" like honey or canned goods, or to allow businesses to sell these past the "best before" date. But the food industry is obviously opposed to such change, and it's easy for them to pull the "we care about customer safety" card. Incidentally, I remember my granddad had these really old (like 1970s) bottles of food coloring in his kitchen. They were actually marked "Shelf life: unlimited".
- Xylakant 10y ago
  I can't talk about the EU level, but in Germany merchands can legally sell goods that exceeded the Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum (best before) if they're certain that the goods are not dangerous. So they could sell honey past the date. Food (or medication for that matter) that has reached the Verfallsdatum (expiry date) can't be sold. The best before date on canned goods is more of an indicator that the beans haven't fallen apart completely or the peach still tastes somewhat like peach. I somewhat doubt that canned goods are the primary driver of food waste on a distribution-chain level. They're usually good for a couple of years, any supermarket that can't sell its stock of canned beans in that time frame will go out of business.
themartorana 10y ago
See, that's nice. In the US, the dates mean f*@k all. http://lifehacker.com/why-expiration-dates-on-your-food-mean-nothing-1755569296 http://lifehacker.com/why-expiration-dates-on-your-food-mean...
- ajuc 10y ago
  In Poland (and probably whole EU) even salt has expiration date, which I assume is a clever biblical reference.
  - Xylakant 10y ago
    It's the date until when the the producer has to guarantee that the salt hasn't baked together to a single large lump.
  - kaybe 10y ago
    Bottled water also does, but in that case it states until when the producer is confident that chemicals from the bottle won't leach into the water.
- maxerickson 10y ago
  The lack of a legal enforcement regime doesn't make them useless. For instance, the grocer I frequent seems pretty consistent in labeling their meats and breads, so the dates do provide information about when the item was packaged. For stuff that is less perishable, the dates are usually for stock rotation and far enough in the future that I don't care.

semi-extrinsic 10y ago

I know there is a push to change EU regulations to allow longer "best before" dates on foods we know keep "indefinitely" like honey or canned goods, or to allow businesses to sell these past the "best before" date. But the food industry is obviously opposed to such change, and it's easy for them to pull the "we care about customer safety" card. Incidentally, I remember my granddad had these really old (like 1970s) bottles of food coloring in his kitchen. They were actually marked "Shelf life: unlimited".

Xylakant 10y ago
I can't talk about the EU level, but in Germany merchands can legally sell goods that exceeded the Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum (best before) if they're certain that the goods are not dangerous. So they could sell honey past the date. Food (or medication for that matter) that has reached the Verfallsdatum (expiry date) can't be sold. The best before date on canned goods is more of an indicator that the beans haven't fallen apart completely or the peach still tastes somewhat like peach. I somewhat doubt that canned goods are the primary driver of food waste on a distribution-chain level. They're usually good for a couple of years, any supermarket that can't sell its stock of canned beans in that time frame will go out of business.

themartorana 10y ago

See, that's nice. In the US, the dates mean f*@k all. http://lifehacker.com/why-expiration-dates-on-your-food-mean-nothing-1755569296 http://lifehacker.com/why-expiration-dates-on-your-food-mean...

ajuc 10y ago
In Poland (and probably whole EU) even salt has expiration date, which I assume is a clever biblical reference.
- Xylakant 10y ago
  It's the date until when the the producer has to guarantee that the salt hasn't baked together to a single large lump.
- kaybe 10y ago
  Bottled water also does, but in that case it states until when the producer is confident that chemicals from the bottle won't leach into the water.
maxerickson 10y ago
The lack of a legal enforcement regime doesn't make them useless. For instance, the grocer I frequent seems pretty consistent in labeling their meats and breads, so the dates do provide information about when the item was packaged. For stuff that is less perishable, the dates are usually for stock rotation and far enough in the future that I don't care.