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food expiration date labels aluminum canned goods

Understanding Food Expiration Date Labels Made Simple

/13 Comments/in , , /by Mary Hunt

Ever tossed out milk the second it hit its “Sell By” date, only to later wonder if you just poured money down the drain? You’re not alone. Food expiration date labels are confusing on purpose (well, almost). The truth is, most dates are about quality, not safety. And knowing the difference between “Best By,” “Use By,” and “Sell By” can save you a small fortune over time. Let’s decode the mystery so you can waste less, save more, and maybe even brag about your grocery smarts.

food expiration date labels aluminum canned goods

No doubt, you’ve noticed those tiny dates stamped on food packages—the ones that look official but often leave you scratching your head. And with food prices climbing higher than a ‘90s Tamagotchi on eBay, nobody wants to toss good food unless it’s absolutely necessary.

Take “Sell By 9.01.25.” Does that mean it’s unsafe on September 2nd, or just that the grocery store should stop selling it by then? Then there are canned or packaged goods stamped with a date like “2.01.26.” Is that a deadline for eating it, or just a suggestion?

It gets even trickier when the package shows only a date—no “best by” or “use by” in sight. Suddenly you’re standing in your kitchen playing detective, wondering if that can of soup will nourish you or land you in the ER. And just to make things more fun, some products skip dates altogether, leaving us all in a kind of culinary guessing game.

For some, the whole thing feels familiar—we grew up trusting the sniff test and maybe even sipping milk straight from the carton without a second thought. Others are caught between not wanting to waste a single grocery dollar and not wanting to be the one who gambles on sketchy leftovers. And then there are those who’ve seen enough to know that food dates are often less about safety and more about keeping shelves moving.

Bottom line: these labels are confusing because they’re not standardized, they’re often more about quality than safety, and they can leave even the savviest shopper second-guessing.

FDA Rules vs. Manufacturer Guidelines

Here’s the thing: those dates printed on your groceries? For the most part, they’re not required by law. In fact, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) only mandates product dating for one category—infant formula and baby food. That’s it. Everything else? Completely voluntary.

Meat, poultry, and egg products fall under a different agency, the Food Safety and Inspection Service. Even then, the dates you see are optional, as long as they’re “truthful and not misleading.” Translation: a lot of what you’re reading on the label is the manufacturer’s best guess at how long their product will taste and look its best.

Beyond that, the food industry follows FDA “guidelines.” And yes, that’s the actual word they use—guidelines, not rules. Which means two different brands of the same product could use completely different dating systems, and both would be perfectly legal.

So if you’ve ever felt like food dates are a little vague, sometimes more about keeping you coming back to buy fresh than about keeping you safe, you’re not imagining things. It’s less about hard science and more about a mix of safety, quality, and marketing.

Best By, Use By, and Expiration: What They Mean

milk carton food expiration date best by sniff test

Let’s decode those mysterious phrases on your food labels:

  • “Best By,” “Best Before,” or “Better if Used By:” These are about quality, not safety. You’ll see them on cereals, snacks, canned goods, and baked items. Past that date, the food may lose crunch, flavor, or texture, but it’s rarely unsafe. Think “still fine, just not at its peak.”
  • “Expiration,” “Use By,” or “Use Before:” These carry more weight. You’ll find them on dairy, eggs, baby formula, and other refrigerated foods. Unlike “Best By,” this usually means don’t risk it. Once that date passes, safety becomes a concern, so toss it out.
  • “Guaranteed Fresh:” Usually stamped on baked goods (hello, doughnuts and sandwich bread). It means the bakery promises top-notch freshness until that date. Afterward, the product may taste stale but is often salvageable. Try reviving bread with a quick toast or a few minutes in the oven.
  • Pack Dates: Some foods carry the date they were packaged. Trouble is, many of these are coded, so unless you work in the factory, the numbers won’t mean much. For the rest of us, they’re more trivia than guidance.

Here’s the bottom line: food labels are often designed to protect the brand’s reputation for taste and texture, not necessarily to warn you about safety risks. That’s where your common sense, resourcefulness, and maybe a little healthy skepticism come in handy.

When in doubt, trust your senses. A “Best By” date on a can doesn’t mean doom after midnight. Case in point: I once opened a can of evaporated milk three years past its “Best By” date. Safe? Yes. Appetizing? Not exactly. It had turned school-bus yellow, with watery liquid on top and grainy solids beneath. The smell? Neutral. The look? Hard pass. You get the picture.

What “Sell By” Really Means for Shoppers

Think of the “Sell By” date as a note from the manufacturer to the grocery store clerk, not a countdown timer for your fridge. It tells stores how long to keep items on the shelf to ensure you still have some time to use them at home.

Here’s the thing: “Sell By” is about inventory management, not food safety. If you’re the kind of person who likes to question authority or hates wasting perfectly good food, this date deserves a skeptical eyebrow.

  • Milk: Often good for at least a week past its “Sell By” date if it’s been consistently refrigerated. Trust your nose and taste buds. They’ll tell you before the carton does.
  • Meat: Once it hits its “Sell By” date, plan to cook it right away or freeze it within 24 hours. Waste not, want not.
  • Bread: It might dry out past the “Sell By” date, but that’s where your toaster, French toast recipe, or bread pudding skills shine.

Bottom line? If it looks, smells, and tastes fine, it probably is. But if it starts resembling a 7th-grade science project, that’s your cue to let it go.

Decoding Egg Carton and Bread Tab Dates

bread tag egg carton julian number expiration sell by how to know

Here’s where food dating gets a little sneaky. Some products, like eggs, don’t use the familiar “Best By” or “Sell By” at all. Instead, they come stamped with what’s called a Julian date: a three-digit number between 001 and 365. January 1 is “001,” February 1 is “032,” and December 31 is “365.” Leap years? Ignored.

So, if your carton says “153”, that means the eggs were packed on June 2. Add in the fact that properly refrigerated eggs are usually safe for 3–5 weeks beyond the pack date, and suddenly you’re not just reading a number, you’re saving yourself a needless trip to the store.

Bread can be trickier. Ever noticed the colored plastic tabs or twist ties on loaves? They’re not random. In many bakeries, the color or letter corresponds to the day of the week or month the bread was baked. For example:

  • Letters A through M (skipping “I”) are often used for months: A = January, M = December.
  • Some stores use colors for delivery days (blue = Monday, green = Tuesday, etc.), though this varies by bakery.

Do you need to memorize the code? Not unless you’re planning to moonlight as a bread detective. But knowing how to crack it can help you spot the freshest loaf in the bunch, or at least feel like you’ve outsmarted the bread aisle.

Pro Tip

In a properly stocked store, the freshest items will be at the back of the shelf or underneath older items. Select the one whose date (if there is one) is the farthest away.

Smart Tips to Save Money and Reduce Food Waste

At the end of the day, freshness matters, not just for taste, but for your wallet, too. Food companies put dates on products because they want you to enjoy their food at its very best (and, let’s be honest, because they want you to buy more). A good reputation for freshness keeps customers coming back.

But here’s the real takeaway: you have more control than you might think. By using a little common sense and a few simple strategies, you can stretch your grocery budget, waste less, and feel confident about the food you serve.

Here are some smart, doable tips:

  • First in, first out (FIFO). Rotate your fridge and pantry. Use the older items first so nothing gets buried and forgotten.
  • Freeze with purpose. Bread, meat, even shredded cheese can go straight into the freezer. Frozen bread slices go right into the toaster without thawing.
  • Portion it out. Buy bulk if the price is right, but split it into smaller servings.
  • Turn “tired” food into something new. Wilted spinach? Great in smoothies. Stale bread? Perfect for croutons. Yogurt near its date? Bake it into muffins.
  • Do the sniff and look test. Trust your senses over the date on the package. When food really goes bad, it tells you loud and clear.

Wasting less food means saving more money. And who doesn’t like that?

 

Question: Be honest. Are you a ‘sniff test’ person or a ‘trash it immediately’ person when food passes the date on the package? Share in the comments below.

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13 replies
  1. Grannycan says:

    I grew up with milk in a pail, no expiration date in sight. 😉 If it smelled okay we tasted. If it tasted right we used it, if it didn’t the pigs got it in their slop. I will test canned goods that are beyond the stamped date. Again, if it passes the smell test and the taste test I use it. If you smell first, it will keep you from tasting something nasty, but taste anyway to make sure it’s not ‘off’.
    Float test works for eggs. Fresh eggs will lay flat, older eggs will stand upright. If an egg floats put it in the trash GENTLY!

    Reply
  2. Danna Murden says:

    I have followed this information for years. Thank you! I wish someone would inform Food Pantries about this, most won’t take canned items if they are just a month out of date.

    Reply
  3. Ann Marie says:

    I don’t throw things out if they’re past the date without opening and checking the contents. If dairy has been sealed and refrigerated (or frozen) properly, it is usually ok well past the date until it gets opened. I’ve experienced this with things like cream cheese, ricotta, and mozzarella. I’ve also had to toss items before the “date”, including dairy, fish, and meat, because they smelled funny, became slimy, or had some odd color. Canned goods are usually fine a few years past the date, but I always check to see if the top of the can is puffed up or if it makes a noticeable noise when opened (I’ve had tomato sauce splatter everywhere when opening a bloated can). Unfortunately, food banks won’t take “expired” food (when that term isn’t even viable). I’m sure many grocery stores use food that is close to or just past its prime date in their pre-cooked to-go foods. Interestingly, bagged produce has a use-by date, but fresh, whole produce does not!

    Reply
  5. Donna says:

    What about those sealed, flavored pork tenderloins? Is the “use or freeze by” date an absolute? I recently had one I had mistaken the date on by a couple days.

    Reply
    • Sheri B. says:

      No, Once they are FROZEN it will last about 3-4 months in your freezer.
      Meat if it is past the Use by or freeze data , You Have to freeze it them not 2 days later. I would not eat the pork past the use by date!

      Reply
    • Ann Marie says:

      If it smelled and tasted OK, and you didn’t get sick, then I’m sure it was fine. Some of those prepared foods are highly salted and therefore somewhat “preserved”

      Reply
  6. Deb R. says:

    I just threw away two cans of tomatoes with green chilies from 2018. I opened the newest one (well, its use by date was three months ago), then opened the other two to compare. The first one didn’t make noise, the other two gave a “ffsht” sound. The color of the product in the first can was bright, in the other two cans it was dull. I decided better safe than sorry.

    Reply
  7. Trudy says:

    We eat dairy and eggs that are past the date without any problems. Sour dairy can be used in baking in place of regular or buttermilk. We’ve eaten sour cream that was 2 months past the date. I also buy marked down meat and have never had a problem.

    Reply
    • Pat A Weiser says:

      Trudy, I do the same. Yogurt is good to eat quite a ways past the date. After all, it’s sour milk to begin with. With baking mixes, you can generally add a tsp of baking powder and they’ll be just fine.

      Reply
  8. Gina D Stevens says:

    Is it just me, or are the dates “findability” hard as calculus? If they are in plain sight, the date stamper is nearly out of ink.

    Reply
  9. Cally Ross says:

    What about a cake or brownie mix stored in the refrigerator for 3 years? I’m curious as to how it would “go bad” if frozen. I should NOT stock up on such items, I always forget they are there!

    Reply
    • Mary Hunt says:

      “Go bad” is a nebulous term. It is not likely to become “spoiled” as we would think of milk or eggs going bad. But time can degrade the flour and other dry ingredients so that they taste terrible. They are not indefinitely stable. Hope that helps

      Reply

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