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This can generate a bit of confusion. Many won't eat anything past its best before date, as though it's a use by date. Best before date = no guarantee of qualit
by jwdunne 10y ago
This can generate a bit of confusion. Many won't eat anything past its best before date, as though it's a use by date. Best before date = no guarantee of quality after. Use by date = potentially poisonous after.
In fact, we have online stores that sell past best before date food at ridiculous prices because retailers can't really sell them.
- simplehuman 10y agoThey could simply have used the terms "Unsure quality after" and "Discard after"
- gpawl 10y agoHow would using more confusing terms help?
- jwdunne 10y ago"Guaranteed until xxx" - all brands guarantee their products before the best before. "Hazardous after xxx" - literally, this could kill you after this date. The other problem is forcing brands to put "hazardous" on their labels.
- flukus 10y agoOr "could be dodgy" and "will be dodgy".
- danieltillett 10y agoFellow Australian think we are going to have to explain to most of the rest of the world what dodgy means first :) Anyway shouldn't it be "might be dodgy" and "is dodgy"?
- jwdunne 10y agoExcept the British, or at least Mancunians. "Ugh tastes a bit dodgy" does not sound foreign to me in any way.
- k-mcgrady 10y agoI think the confusion is due to the fact that some products have both types of date marking, some have only use-by, and some have only best-by. Some consistency would go a long way to fixing the confusion. If you have both on the product it's clear.
- jwdunne 10y agoI don't think I've seen this before but good point. I'd have thought use by would be equivalent to best before in that case. Usually the use by is a couple of days, up to a week e.g meat, milk, etc.
- awjr 10y agoUse By = Unsafe to eat. Can make you sick or even kill you. Best Before = Tastes funny. Found a bag of crisps(chips) with a Best Before of about two years ago. Tasted horrible, but not unsafe to eat. Although I do take some Use By dates as a guide only. Eating yoghurt within 4-5 days of the use by is usually ok.
- jwdunne 10y ago2 year old gone off crisp?! Anyway, I just don't think I've seen a product with both dates on!
- wbillingsley 10y agoThat's not because of confusion over whether it's means the same as "Use By" so much as because some products, though perfectly safe after their "Best Before" in practice might be a bit yuck, while others are generally ok, and you can't always tell because often it's about "did the humidity get to it?". That KitKat might have more bend than snap to it... That box of stale cornflakes might be a bit more chewy than crunchy... And unsurprisingly, consumers aren't keen on the risk of getting home from the shops, only to discover that £1 product that's past its best before really is ickily unpleasant and now they have to walk all the way back to the shops again if they wan't something palatable...
- jwdunne 10y agoThere is that. It rarely happens the day after best before - still perfectly edible if stored right. I've met people who refuse to eat food a few days before the best before so as to completely avoid getting ill. After the best before, it's considered "gone off", just like the use by.