When the food in your fridge is past the “best by” or “sell by” dates, what do you do with it? Toss it out? If you are like most Americans, you’re probably throwing it out for your own safety. According to a new study, the problem is that most people believe wrongly that food product dates are federally regulated and indicate the point after which the food is no longer safe to eat. Neither is true. Let’s clear up some misunderstandings regarding expiration dates. First, “best by” refers to when a food is at peak flavor or quality, and “sell by” indicates how long a store should sell or display a product for inventory management reasons. Got it? Good. But when should you throw something out? If proper spoilage isn’t evident, use your senses: spoilage batteries will typically produce a noticeable change in odor, flavor or texture. If none of these have developed, it’s probably safe to keep your food.
What the expiration dates on food products really mean
More of Today's Solutions
Successful gene-hacked pig kidney transplant shows promise in xenotransplanta...
A team at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston performed a breakthrough surgical accomplishment, transplanting a kidney from a gene-hacked pig into a 62-year-old man. ...
Read MoreOvercoming loneliness: 4 ways to make real connections and build community
Have you ever considered how your brain interprets loneliness? Surprisingly, it recognizes it as a threat. Loneliness is more than simply a passing mood; ...
Read MoreA daycare built a ‘forest floor’, and it changed kids’ immu...
Time in nature is valuable for children’s physical and mental health, so one daycare in Finland decided to invest in a playground that replicated ...
Read MoreEvery Welsh household gets a free tree to help tackle climate emergency
The Welsh government has come up with a £2 million scheme to help tackle the climate emergency that will give a tree to every ...
Read More
