Confusion over date labels is a documented contributor to household food waste, and regulators in several countries have specifically flagged inconsistent terminology as part of the problem. The core distinction worth learning is between dates that signal safety and dates that signal quality.
Use by: a safety date
In the UK and EU, 'use by' dates appear on perishable foods where there is a food safety risk after the date, such as fresh meat, fish, and ready-to-eat chilled products. The UK Food Standards Agency advises against consuming food after its use-by date, even if it looks and smells fine, because the risk it addresses — such as bacterial growth — is not always detectable by appearance or smell.
Best before: a quality date
'Best before' dates relate to quality rather than safety: flavour, texture or nutritional content may decline after the date, but the food is generally safe to eat past it if stored correctly and shows no signs of spoilage. This applies to many longer-life foods such as tinned goods, dried pasta and frozen items.
Not medical advice
This article explains standard food labelling terminology. It is general information, not food safety advice for a specific product or health condition; people who are pregnant, elderly, very young, or immunocompromised should follow use-by dates and official food safety guidance strictly, since they face higher risk from foodborne illness.
US terminology is less standardised
In the United States, the USDA has noted that date labels such as 'sell by', 'best if used by' and 'use by' are, with the exception of infant formula, generally not federally required or standardised, and are provided voluntarily by manufacturers as an indicator of quality rather than a federally mandated safety cutoff. This has led USDA and FDA to promote 'best if used by' as clearer, more consistent language for quality dating, and to note that 'sell by' dates are primarily inventory information for retailers rather than a signal to consumers.
Sell by is not a consumer safety cutoff
'Sell by' dates exist to help retailers manage stock rotation and are not intended as the point past which food becomes unsafe for a consumer to eat at home; food can generally be safely stored and consumed for a period after the sell-by date, provided it has been handled correctly.
Practical checks beyond the date
- Storage conditions matter as much as the date: consistent refrigeration at the correct temperature extends practical safe life relative to a fridge that fluctuates in temperature.
- Smell, appearance and texture remain useful checks for quality-dated items, though they are not reliable indicators for the specific pathogens that use-by dates address.
- Packaging integrity, including swelling or damage on tinned goods, is an independent safety signal regardless of the printed date.
- Freezing can extend safe storage well beyond a printed best-before date for many foods, provided freezing happens before that date and food is thawed safely.
- Treat use-by dates on perishable, chilled or ready-to-eat foods as a firm safety cutoff.
- Treat best-before dates as a quality guide, using appearance, smell and storage history to judge edibility past the date.
- Do not treat US sell-by dates as a consumer-facing safety deadline.
- Follow stricter interpretation of all dates for higher-risk groups, per national food safety guidance.
One date on a package answers a safety question. Another answers a quality question. Reading them as the same thing is where avoidable waste, and avoidable risk, both come from.
