# Expiration dates for food **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 14, 2001, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411 "2001-11-14T22:58:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AlteredState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@AlteredState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlteredState)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/1 "2001-11-14T22:58:06Z")
Specifically dairy products. I truly believe in the power of expiration dates - a carton of yoghurt, one day out? Im not gonna touch it! Logically, I’m aware that it’s probably fine and will keep for a few more days. Perhaps its memories of my mother saying “here…smell this…tell me if it’s still good.” Mind you, there was nothing wrong with her sense of smell so why would I want to voluntarily stick my nose next to something that has the potential to smell truly revolting. Also, if there’s only about an inch of milk left in the carton, even before expiration date, I’d rather open up a fresh one and use that. So who out there doesn’t care? Who actually sniffs dairy products after expiration and thinks…“Well it’s on the edge of going funky, but it’ll do”. ---
**Author:** ![cher3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2001, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/2 "2001-11-14T23:18:59Z")
Well, I do sniff dairy products. We had refrigerator problems once and stuff was going bad long before the expiration date. I wouldn’t go ahead and use it, though. Even the edge of funky is too funky for me. It stems from the time my Mom made us finish off a gallon of slightly spoiled milk. She claimed she couldn’t smell anything wrong with it and it tasted funny because the cows had switched to grass. Yeah right, Mom. ---
**Author:** ![Asylum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/53a042/32.png) [@Asylum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asylum)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/3 "2001-11-15T00:21:26Z")
I work in a grocery store, specifically the floor deli, or dairy, and there are a lot of misconceptions about “expiration dates.” If you take a closer look at the dates on cartons of milk, sour cream, etc. you’ll see it actually says “Sell by” such and such date. The purpose of the date is _not_ to tell you how much longer the product is good, it’s to tell the people working there how much longer they can keep the product on the shelf. As a rule of thumb once you _open_ a dairy product, up to and including the sell by date, it is only good for seven days or so afterwards. The reason for the sell by date is to ensure that the when a customer takes a product home they will have sufficient time to consume it before it goes bad; the motivation behind this practice is that it would look bad on the company selling the product if people were taking home something that went bad the day after they bought it. Ultimately when customers ask I tell them seven days from initial opening, but it doesn’t hurt to use the sniff test if you wanna push it. BTW I’ve been working this department for five years, and in grocery stores in general for nine (don’t feel too bad for me, we’re union). ---
**Author:** ![AlteredState](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/eada6e/32.png) [@AlteredState](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlteredState)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/4 "2001-11-15T00:57:48Z")
Here in Australia it’s actually marked as “Use By” which means that you do have to check before you purchase that it won’t go bad the day after you buy it. Your system seems much more logical! ---
**Author:** ![Setsail](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Setsail](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Setsail)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/5 "2001-11-15T01:38:52Z")
I’m really picky about the dates as well, so I throw things away when it hits the expiration date, even canned foods. I like the idea of seven days after opening, now if I could just remember when things are opened… Setsail ---
**Author:** ![geepee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ebca7d/32.png) [@geepee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/geepee)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/6 "2001-11-15T02:13:18Z")
cripes reminds me of another thread , best before best before my ass i forget the URL to it , but WALMART food has a tendancy to go off early , though hell i’ve drunken bad milk before not bad bit sour though . And hell the nearest store is 6 miles away , canned foods are indestructable had some soup 2 years out of date some chilli 9 months out of date and some pasta a few weeks out of date , some frozen stuff was years and years old but still tasted fine. (which is bizzare since TV dinners taste like crap 99% of the time) ---
**Author:** ![vanilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f19dbf/32.png) [@vanilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vanilla)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/7 "2001-11-15T14:33:53Z")
Huh. The other day I opened my tub of sour cream, not setr to expire yet and it was dark green!! Oewwwww. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![royjwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ce73a5/32.png) [@royjwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/royjwood)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/8 "2001-11-15T14:38:24Z")
I will not purchase any dairy product within two days of expiration. Even so, I ALWAYS sniff it. I know from personal experience that sometimes that stuff can go bad long before the “sell buy” date. I love milk, but man I hate spoiled milk. ---
**Author:** ![Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Chance\_the\_Gardener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chance_the_Gardener)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/9 "2001-11-15T15:37:08Z")
I live in New Jersey, just three miles away from New York. This means that the dairy products have to fit the standards of both states, which translates into two expiration dates on dairy products. The New York expiration date is always two or three days earlier than the New Jersey date. I’ve found that if I follow the New York date, I can use it several days afterward before it goes bad. However, following the New Jersey date, milk goes bad on the morning of the expiration. This is eerily consistent. New Jersey dairy standards suck. ---
**Author:** ![porcupine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ac91a4/32.png) [@porcupine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/porcupine)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2001, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expiration-dates-for-food/93411/10 "2001-11-15T16:05:25Z")
The Master Speaks: [Why is there an expiration date on sour cream?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_162.html) Like most people here, some things I will eat a couple of days past the expiration date as long as it smells “clean” (sour cream and whipping cream being good examples.) For hard cheese and that type of thing, I’ll let it go longer - I just cut off the moldy edge if there is one. Soft cheese will get thrown away, though. And I’m ultra paranoid about fresh meat and poultry - I won’t buy it if the “sell-by” date isn’t at least 3 days after I’m buying it. I won’t buy fresh dairy unless the “sell-by” date is at least several days away.