Food that has passed its best before is absolutely safe to eat, but the flavour and texture may change over time.
Food that has passed its ‘use by’, ‘sell by’ and ‘display until’ is not safe to eat. We do not sell anything with these dates.
‘Best before’ dates
‘Best before’ dates are an indicative guide of when the quality of food or drink will start to change. They are not to do with safety. Food that has passed its best before date is safe to eat.
‘Best before’ dates can give a misleading impression that food is no longer suitable for consumption, meaning lots of consumers will throw out their food after the ‘best before’ date has passed when they don’t need to.
‘Best before’ should be considered a rough guide rather than a strict rule. ‘Best before’ dates are not exact, you can use your own judgement and knowledge to make decisions, it is perfectly safe to eat and will taste just as good. Use your senses and preferences to asses, a sniff or taste test is the best way. It all comes down to flavour and texture, and ultimately this is about personal preference. If you aren’t sure whether you should eat a product past its ‘best before’, just try it. It is safe to eat so you won’t cause yourself any harm and you can decide for yourself whether the taste is good enough for you.
Remember that foods taste different in recipes too. Other ingredients can boost flavour where it may have reduced a little, meaning you can still make use of the food in the cupboard and help reduce your contribution to the problem of food waste.
Based on the feedback we receive, we find our customers very rarely have problems with the quality of the food when buying products past their ‘best before’.
The UK throws away seven million tonnes of food and drink every year; two million of this is thrown away by households and 670,000 of this is food that has been thrown out because food labels have been misinterpreted. The majority of this could have been eaten. This costs households an average of £470 year in wasted food annually.
If you want to reduce your food waste footprint, don’t throw out food just because it has passed its ‘best before’! To find out more information on ‘best before’ date please visit the Food Standards Agency guidelines page.