"Best By" vs "Use By": What Food Dates Really Mean

The dates printed on food are among the most misunderstood words in the kitchen, and the misunderstanding is expensive. FDA has pointed to confusion over date labels as a significant driver of food that gets thrown away at home while it is still perfectly good to eat.

Start with the surprising part: apart from infant formula, federal law does not require dates on food at all. Manufacturers add them voluntarily, and according to USDA they generally describe quality — when a product is at its best — rather than the point at which it becomes unsafe.

'Best if Used By' (or 'Best By') is about flavor and quality. It is the phrase USDA and FDA encourage manufacturers to use, precisely because it says what the date means. Dried pasta, rice, canned goods, crackers, chips, most condiments, honey and spices are generally safe past it if they have been stored properly. They may just be a little less good.

'Use By' is the last date the manufacturer recommends for peak quality. On infant formula it is a federal requirement and should always be followed. On other foods it is still a quality date, but it is a good signal to plan that item in soon.

'Sell By' is not really for you. It tells the store how long to display a product for inventory purposes. There is normally plenty of usable life remaining after it, which is why discounted near-date sections exist.

Where safety really comes in is storage, not the printed date. Keep your fridge at 40°F or below and your freezer at 0°F. Don't leave perishable food out for more than two hours (one hour if it's above 90°F). And follow storage times for perishables regardless of the label: USDA advises cooking or freezing raw poultry and ground meat within one to two days, for example. Ready-to-eat foods like deli meats deserve particular care, because the bacteria that matter don't change how food looks or smells.

For shelf-stable foods past their best-by date, your senses are a reasonable guide to quality: off smells, unusual textures or visible mold are signs to toss it. Hard cheese with a small spot of mold can have the spot cut generously away, because mold can't easily penetrate dense cheese. Soft cheese, bread, soft fruit and cooked dishes with mold go in the trash.

The exception worth taking seriously is anything that could carry botulism: bulging or leaking cans, jars whose lids are swollen or don't seal, or home-canned food that was processed improperly. There is no sensory test for it. Discard without tasting.

The practical upshot: store food properly, eat perishables promptly, and treat most printed dates as a guide to quality rather than a deadline. That one change in thinking keeps a lot of good food out of the trash.