TORONTO 鈥� Should you worry about eating food if the best-before date on the label has come and gone?
That depends on whether it鈥檚 a can of tomatoes or a carton of milk.
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.
鈥淭he dates originated as an inventory management tool,鈥� says Getty Stewart, a professional home economist in Winnipeg. 鈥淭hey are really all about the quality, freshness, taste, colour of the product.鈥�
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 鈥� milk left on the counter or groceries left too long in a hot car won鈥檛 keep as long.
鈥淭he rule of thumb is that you smell it and you look at it 鈥� and literally that鈥檚 the best thing,鈥� says Keith Warriner, a professor in the food science department at the University of Guelph.
鈥淭he best-before date is only a guide. If you鈥檝e abused it, it鈥檚 going to spoil much quicker. So use your senses 鈥� and your senses are very good because they can smell when things aren鈥檛 right.鈥�
While Health Canada advises not to consume any food past its best-before date, Stewart calls that advice 鈥渏ust way too conservative and leads to food waste.鈥�
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 a cop-out on their part for not having a better answer for people. Canada Food Inspection Agency is a little more lenient, and then some other sites may have questionable authors; we don鈥檛 know who really is writing that information.
鈥淪o I think the answer lies somewhere in the middle in using your own experience and judgment and your own information about how I stored this product.鈥�
Typically, best-before dates are conservative, so people are throwing away perfectly good food, says Warriner.
鈥淪ometimes retailers don鈥檛 want a long shelf life because if they can sell products and you throw them out you鈥檙e going to go back and get some fresh ones,鈥� says Warriner.
He advises sticking to the best-before date when it comes to items like deli meats, hot dogs and soft 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 鈥渂ecause of botulism risk, even though they might taste and look good,鈥� says Warriner.
Retail-packed items must have a 鈥減ackaged on鈥� date plus a 鈥渂est before鈥� or 鈥渦se by鈥� date. This applies to foods like cut-up fruit and vegetables, store-packed meats, and bread, muffins and cakes baked on the premises.
Warriner is often asked whether it鈥檚 OK to cut mould off fruit and eat the seemingly unaffected portion.
鈥淚 always advise not to do that. With fruit, especially, if you get mould growth you could potentially have mycotoxins, which don鈥檛 kill you instantly but they鈥檙e not good for you. They鈥檙e carcinogenic.鈥�
And don鈥檛 pick through a berry package looking for ones without mould. 鈥淢oulds are mobile. They don鈥檛 just stick to one strawberry,鈥� he says.
But mould can be cut off hard cheese, like cheddar, which has a low moisture content.
鈥淏ecause it鈥檚 fairly solid the mycotoxins don鈥檛 diffuse as quick or as much,鈥� Warriner says.
Canned foods like tomatoes can be kept for several years. There鈥檚 a risk factor if a can is dented or kept in a damp area. It may start rusting and air holes can develop, allowing botulism to enter.
Stewart says she鈥檚 not surprised people are confused.
鈥淚n my cupboard right now I have two jars of pickles. One has a best-before date and the other one doesn鈥檛,鈥� she says. 鈥淎s a consumer what am I supposed to take from that?
鈥淎nd then it makes me question how do they set best-before dates?鈥�
In her research, she hasn鈥檛 been able to track down rules from a regulatory body on how manufacturers must arrive at a best-before date.
When Warriner asked one company how it tackled the task, he was told a product would be left outside or in a cool room and looked at daily. When they didn鈥檛 the quality was acceptable, they set a best-before date.
Expiry dates fall into a different category altogether. They are required on only a few products in which the nutritional components must be guaranteed, like infant formula, formulated liquid diets for people using oral or tube feeding methods, foods used in very low energy diets that are prescribed by a physician and dispensed by a pharmacist, meal replacements and nutritional supplements.
The 91原创 Food Inspection Agency recommends these products not be consumed past the expiry date because the nutrient content stated on the label may have degraded. They should be discarded.
