'Sell by' dates are earlier than when fresh produce can be expected to become bad. Cooks can examine the fresh produce and decide if they should cook it or not.

'Sell by' dates are earlier than when fresh produce can be expected to become bad. Cooks can examine the fresh produce and decide if they should cook it or not. Tinned or dry goods might be harder to judge. I imagine the liability drops down to the person preparing food in a shelter or soup kitchen. UK: many shops sell off food at half or third price when it hits sell-by. They put it in bins/special fridge areas and they have yellow 'BUY NOW' stickers on, and some products have a warning like 'use today'. I know of cafes that give away their expired sandwiches on the day and hour of expiry. So when given away, it was fine.