​​Eat, Keep or Toss?

Eat, Keep or Toss? The Truth About Dates and More

Food waste is a problem in the United States, and it doesn’t have to do with “cleaning your plate.” According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “wasted food is the single largest category of material placed in municipal landfills,” with evidence that we bought and never prepared much of that food. So, this isn’t food scraped from the plate or a few leftovers that never got eaten. Instead, it is unprepared food such as produce that went bad or unopened food items that are past the date on the package and are tossed based on the faulty assumption that the food is no longer suitable or even safe to consume.

Misunderstood Dates

Dates on food packages such as Sell-By, Use-By, and Best-By are not terms representing safety or even food expiration. The only food product with an actual end or Use-By date, as required by law, is infant formula. For all other cases, food manufacturers add the dates voluntarily related to food quality or freshness.

Sell-By dates found on fresh foods such as meats and poultry, dairy products like milk and yogurt, and eggs. Sell-by is related to freshness in its unopened state. It is not an expiration date or related to food safety. For example, milk with a sell-by date today or even a day or two ago is still acceptable to use as long as it is unopened. However, once opened, the date is no longer relevant. Use it within about 4-7 days of being opened. The date on the carton is a guideline. Milk can spoil before that date if it has been opened for a while or is not stored correctly. It can also be just fine if it is opened after the date on the carton if it is properly stored (below 40 degrees).  

Use-By and Best-By dates are what the manufacturer has deemed as the best time for flavor, quality, or peak freshness for a food. It does not mean that the food is no longer suitable or safe. The dates are guidelines for packaged foods such as canned goods or sealed dried foods like rice or pasta. In most cases, foods in sealed packages are fine for months and even years following this date.

While people may think condiments such as pickles or jams can last indefinitely in the fridge, that isn’t true. For condiments from ketchup to bottled salad dressing, most of them should be used or tossed if they have been open for over a year.

When In Doubt, Throw It Out

Once the food is prepared or opened, dates are no longer relevant. But days are. It doesn’t matter what the date on the package said; once the food is unsealed and prepared, there is a definite timeline for it to be no longer safe.

Two things that are not acceptable in determining whether a food is still safe to eat: when you have to ask someone to “smell this and tell me what you think” and “you can just cut out the mold and still eat it.” Suppose you enjoy gambling, great. Just don’t do it in the kitchen.

Mold can be present even if you don’t see it. So, just because you can cut around the blue-black fuzz on the block of cheese doesn’t mean the rest is okay. If there is mold on one part of the food, whether it is bread or cheese or whatever was in that container, there is likely invisible mold throughout the food, and it is no longer safe. 

The term “when in doubt, throw it out” is a food safety mantra in which we want to reduce the risk of food poisoning. When it comes to leftovers, here is my rule: if you can’t tell what it is, call in a hazmat team. More realistically, if you can’t remember when you had it, then it probably should go. The guideline is to use leftover food within four days. Remember this by recalling that we should use up Thanksgiving leftovers by Monday. This “rule” is valid year-round but an easy way to remember how many days to use up the leftovers.

If you don’t expect to eat leftovers within four days, wrap and freeze them for up to four months. If needed, wrap into individual servings for the freezer so you only defrost what is required.

Clean Out the Kitchen

I encourage people to do a weekly “clean out” of fresh foods and leftovers from the refrigerator. Clean-outs could be the day before you do your grocery shopping or the day before trash day. Do it before you have to hunt for the source of the “smell” or have to toss an entire food container because what’s inside is just too frightening.

Do an annual or bi-annual pantry clean-out. Check the dates for foods with dates from the past. If the item has been in there this long, are you’re going to eat it now? Again, it isn’t a food safety concern, but considering the reality of whether you will ever use it. The answer is a yes or no. If yes, then use it in the next week or two. If no, don’t throw it away, but donate it to the food bank. Or use it for the white elephant gift exchange. 

Food banks do usually accept non-perishable food items that are past the dates stamped on the packaging. The food bank will inspect the items before passing them to their end consumers. So give the food items you aren’t going to eat to someone who will eat them rather than send them to the landfill.

If you stock items in your pantry, remember to rotate items regularly. Stocking food that lasts a family of four for an entire year is fine, and you have the room to do it. But don’t stock up and forget it. Instead, use the food and, when replacing it put newer items behind older items.

The USDA FoodKeeper app helps maximize food freshness and ideal storage time. Use it when doing your clean-outs and let you know how long you can realistically keep food.