Best Before......

Interesting article in our local paper on best before dating of food.

Many people are unclear on the meaning - some think that you must consume the food by that date or throw it away (though how it was OK yesterday and supposedly toxic today doesn't seem to concern them) Apparently a, lot of food gets tossed out because it is a day past the date on the label, and these labels are applied to some foods like honey and dry sugar that are pretty much good indefinitely sitting on the shelf. One has to wonder how much food is wasted because people toss it when they notice it is a day past the date on the label, on the assumption that it somehow became toxic at midnight that day. I guess using your senses to smell or taste to get addition data in deciding whether a given food is edible is now passé....?

The author said that he had even seen best before dates on boxes of salt!

I can think of a couple of possible reasons why a producer might put a "best before" date on something like salt

o Company policy to put "best before" dates on all products, in order to limit legal liability. Requiring it for all products is easier and less error-prone.

o Someone in the distribution chain (such as the eventual retail store) requires it.

The supermarket I frequent puts a "sell by" date on their perishable products such as meat, fish, poultry, produce, and packaged meats/fish (bacon, sausages, etc.). Many canned and packaged goods do come with a "best before" date.

-Paul W.

And, don't forget: if you put a date on the product and that date passes, the customer is encouraged therefore to go buy more product.

Best buy dates are for marketing purposes. Common sense will tell you about meats, veggies, etc. I have used canned and jarred products one or two years past the best-by date, and they are fine.

Certainly, much of it is motivated by legalese CYA policy. However, most canned and frozen goods will slowly decline in quality even when properly stored. I doubt that there's any danger to long storage, but they may not taste as fresh as they once did. It reminds me of the question so often asked on wine fora by noobs: "I found this bottle of 1968 Gallo Hearty Burgundy in my parents' kitchen. Is it dangerous to drink?"

It reminds me of the question so often asked on wine fora by noobs: "I found this bottle of 1968 Gallo Hearty Burgundy in my parents' kitchen. Is it dangerous to drink?"

I would answer, "No more so than when it was first released."

-Paul W.

I know people who think products kind of turn poisonous at midnight of the best by date and throw them out.

It reminds me of the question so often asked on wine fora by noobs: "I found this bottle of 1968 Gallo Hearty Burgundy in my parents' kitchen. Is it dangerous to drink?"

I would answer, "No more so than when it was first released."

-Paul W.

From back in that era, it was "one part Dry Creek Zinfandel to ten parts Thompson seedless"

At one point Gallo had a huge tank of generic white wine. It fed two bottling lines: one with the bottles labeled Chablis, the other with the bottles labeled Rhine Wine. That's marketing for you.

-Paul W.

At one point Gallo had a huge tank of generic white wine. It fed two bottling lines: one with the bottles labeled Chablis, the other with the bottles labeled Rhine Wine. That's marketing for you.

-Paul W.

From 1981 to 1983 I worked at Shell Development Corp's Agricultural Chemical division in Modesto, CA. We would occasionally get a lab tech there who'd previously done time at Gallo. They would describe putting thousands of gallons of decent red wine down 10' tall ion exchange columns to get a product with a consistent flavor profile (which I imagine they titrated back in). Those descriptions defined "industrial" wine making for me at a formative time of my life.

What does ion exchange do for a wine?

What does ion exchange do for a wine?

Many of the polyphenolics and acids in wine are ionized, even at the relatively low pH of wine. An anion exchange column would tend to retain them, exchanging them for chloride ion, most likely. The lab techs weren't well versed in the chemistry (nor in the oenology) so most of this is reading between the lines of what they told us.

In the UK there is Best Before - which means what it says; the product is at its best before that date but can still be consumed after it and Use By, produce which should be consumed by midnight on that date and could be a danger to health after.

It's illegal to sell food after the Use By date but not after the Best Before date as long as the seller take responsibility for its quality.

There are a number of items exempt from such labelling, including salt and wine

In the UK there is Best Before - which means what it says; the product is at its best before that date but can still be consumed after it and Use By, produce which should be consumed by midnight on that date and could be a danger to health after.

It's illegal to sell food after the Use By date but not after the Best Before date as long as the seller take responsibility for its quality.

There are a number of items exempt from such labelling, including salt and wine

True, but I bet there's a little slack concerning "use by."

Slack on Use By depends very much on the food item in question. Last week I discovered a package of bacon lurking in the back of the refrigerator. It had a Use or Freeze By date a few months old. When I opened the package it looked and smelled OK and was delicious when I fried it up. I'm still here so at least in this case the Use By date was considerably pessimistic.

On the other hand a package of liver pate on a shelf in the supermarket caught my eye because this one package of the several for sale looked distinctly discolored. It had a Sell By date a week old. The date on all the other packages was three weeks away. The store has a policy of removing food from sale the day after the Sell By date and giving it to a local food pantry. They somehow missed this one.

-Paul W.

Slack on Use By depends very much on the food item in question. Last week I discovered a package of bacon lurking in the back of the refrigerator. It had a Use or Freeze By date a few months old. When I opened the package it looked and smelled OK and was delicious when I fried it up. I'm still here so at least in this case the Use By date was considerably pessimistic.

On the other hand a package of liver pate on a shelf in the supermarket caught my eye because this one package of the several for sale looked distinctly discolored. It had a Sell By date a week old. The date on all the other packages was three weeks away. The store has a policy of removing food from sale the day after the Sell By date and giving it to a local food pantry. They somehow missed this one. -Paul W.

I agree with you. It depends on what it is. And I'm sure that midnight of the sell by date is not a drop dead date for the consumer. I can't imagine an item being okay at 11:59 pm, but is harmful at 12:01 am or even the next day, maybe two or more. Mfrs. are conservative and give themselves a little wiggle room. Like you say, it depends. I remember once a grocer wouldn't let me buy some blue cheese that was one day past the sell by date. I know that's store policy, but you and I both know that cheese would be perfectly fine for some time.

Old joke: How can you tell when blue cheese is moldy?

[Jenise]

At a recent wine pickup, the proprietor popped a $59 bottle of pistachio oil in my bag. It had expired the day before so couldn't be sold. Great timing!

On the other hand a package of liver pate on a shelf in the supermarket caught my eye because this one package of the several for sale looked distinctly discolored.

That is a hard stop for me: if it's discolored, it can stay right there.

I agree about discoloration being a hard stop. In this case I brought it to the store's attention and they immediately removed it from the shelf.

Another thing that I'm wary of is when a vacuum-packed plastic package of meat has the plastic bulging out because of excess air pressure in the package.

-Paul W.