“Best By” Dates Waste a Lot of Good Food and Money

Friends and family members know that cooking is a hobby with me. That means I occasionally am confronted with those so-called “Best By” or “Expiration” dates on cans and packages.

Many folks act like on that date, the food inside the package immediately turns into arsenic. Forty-three percent of American pitch food based solely on the “best by” date. I am on the opposite side of the gastronomical world. I never bother to read those dates when purchasing anything – and very rarely when I go to use a product.

Sometimes I will give into curiosity concerning items that may have been on the shelf since Ronald Reagan was governor of California. If I find something with a very old “use by” date, do I pitch it? No. Some items last for years beyond those termination dates –stuff like rice, pasta, items with more salt (a preservative) or sugar.

I have long relied on the tried and true methods to determine whether food is good, a bit off or beyond hope. It is the human senses – look, smell, taste (sometimes) and feel. The good news is that most foods that have gone bad are still not dangerous. They do not cause illness or worse. The most dangerous situations are often not the food itself, but from parasitic infestation – and that can occur in foods that look fresh.

The imposition of the due dates has caused a significant increase in the waste of perfectly good food. We Americans waste approximately 40 million tons of good food every year — by consumers and retailers. That is an astounding 25 to 40 percent of the entire food supply. In economic terms, the wasted food has a value of up to $325 billion. The portion of discarded good food based on those “best by” dates is estimated to be in excess of 3.5 billion tons at a cost of $20 billion. And this while millions of people around the world suffer from malnutrition and starvation.

If you want to talk about food affordability, it is noteworthy that the average American family trashes from $1500 to $2500 worth of good food each year based on “best by” dates.

Now for a surprise for most folks. Dating food is not a government requirement. Neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Department Agriculture have a “best by” dating requirement s– although the latter does require a production date and will step in where there is fraudulent labeling.

It is the food manufacturers that put those scary dates on the packages – and to play it safe the dates are long before the food could possibly go bad.

The “best by” dates serve no real purpose except to scare the wary and the germophobes. You know … those who will not eat raw meat, anything that drops on the floor (no three second rule), or will toss an entire block of cheese the moment a spot of mold appears on the edge. They are often the same folks who swim in waters in which fish poop and people pee. Go figure.

Ironically, the hyper safe and sanitary folks are more likely to get sick from food poisoning because their obsessive sanitary requirements have reduced their immune systems. There is a body of scientific data labeled the “hygiene hypothesis” that suggests that avoiding exposure to pathogens – especially in the early years – weakens the immune system. It is why some Americans may suffer intestinal problems drinking water in foreign nations – Mexico (Montezuma’s revenge), Asia and Africa – and the locals do not.

If you like termination dating on food products, and comply, you might have to thank notorious mobster Al Capone. He called for clearer labeling after his sister got sick from some bad milk. But the manufacturer dating was never intended to be a deadline (no pun intended), but merely a general guide – and not a very good one.

Based on the latest reports, I feel vindicated for my life long – food poisoning-free — avoidance of food warnings. Bon appétit.

So, there ‘tis.