Most people have done it. You reach for the yogurt, clock the date, and it’s three days past. Into the trash it goes. No sniff test. No second thought. The date said so, and that’s that.
The problem is, that date almost certainly wasn’t telling you what you thought it was. With the exception of baby food and prepackaged sandwiches, date labels are not regulated. They are set by food manufacturers to keep their products moving through the store shelves. Date labels do not correlate with food safety, but rather food quality. That’s a meaningful distinction, and the confusion around it is costing households serious money and sending perfectly edible food to landfills every single day.
The Labeling System Is Broken by Design
There are no uniform or universally accepted descriptions used on food labels for open dating in the United States. As a result, there are a wide variety of phrases used on labels to describe quality dates. Walk down any grocery aisle and you’ll find “sell by,” “best by,” “use by,” and “best if used by” all living side by side, applied differently depending on the brand and the product.
A “Best if Used By/Before” date indicates when a product will be of best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date. A “Sell-By” date tells the store how long to display the product for sale for inventory management. It is not a safety date. In other words, the date you’re reading is a management tool for retailers, not a health warning for you.
A 2025 nationally representative survey found that consumer confusion around food date labeling led 88 percent of consumers to discard food near the package labeling date at least occasionally. That’s the vast majority of shoppers routinely throwing away food that, in many cases, was still completely fine to eat.
The Scale of the Problem: A Staggering Amount of Waste
The USDA estimates that 30 percent of the food supply is lost or wasted at the retail and consumer levels. One source of food waste arises from consumers or retailers throwing away wholesome food because of confusion about the meaning of date labels.
Nearly 10% of all wasted food in the U.S. is due to confusion over how to interpret food date labels, often mistakenly thought of as “expiration dates.” The numerous types of date labels confuse consumers who believe their food will make them sick when more often the manufacturer is intending to relay a guarantee of peak freshness.
An estimated 7 billion pounds of food is trashed in the U.S. annually in part due to this confusion. In response to these practices, California passed Assembly Bill 660 in October 2024 to better regulate food and beverage labeling. Starting July 1, 2026, this bill will require food items to be labeled based on quality and safety, rather than just conveying freshness.
1. Eggs: Good for Weeks Longer Than You Think
Eggs are probably the most misunderstood item in any refrigerator. People see that sell-by date and panic, when in reality that carton is likely still safe well into the following month.
Eggs can be safely eaten three to five weeks after purchase, even if the “sell by” date has passed. Eggs can stay good for up to three to five weeks past the “sell by” date if stored properly in a refrigerator. It is recommended to refrigerate eggs in their original carton and place them in the coldest part of the refrigerator, not in the door due to loss of coolness from repeated opening of the door.
Not sure if yours are still good? A simple float test works well. Fresh eggs sink and lie flat; older but still safe eggs stand upright; eggs that float should be discarded. Your nose is also a reliable guide here.
2. Hard Cheese: Trim and Carry On
Hard cheeses like cheddar, parmesan, and swiss are natural aging champions. They were aged to begin with, so a few extra weeks in your fridge isn’t going to hurt them.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, cheese can last from a few weeks to a few months past the “sell by” date. Mold on hard block cheese can be safely removed by cutting off at least one inch around and below the mold spot and discarding it, whereas soft or unpasteurized cheese should be thrown out if visible mold appears.
The key variable is moisture. Lower moisture content means fewer conditions for harmful bacteria to thrive. That’s why a parmesan wedge behaves very differently from a soft brie once their dates have passed.
3. Milk: A Few Days More Is Usually Fine
The sell-by date on your milk carton might be the biggest psychological trigger in the dairy aisle. People dump milk almost automatically the day the date changes, even when it looks and smells completely normal.
Pasteurized milk lasts three to seven days beyond its “sell by” date if kept at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Milk is generally good for at least five to seven days after its “Sell by” date, though exactly how long will depend on factors including proper storage in the refrigerator and pasteurization methods.
The honest test is your senses. Milk that has genuinely gone off will smell sour and have a noticeably curdled texture. If it passes both checks, it’s almost certainly still safe to use in cooking, coffee, or cereal.
4. Canned Goods: Potentially Good for Years
Canned food is where the “expiration date” myth gets the most dramatic. Cans stamped with a date from two years ago routinely get tossed based purely on the number, not on anything wrong with the food inside.
Most shelf-stable foods are safe indefinitely. In fact, canned goods will last for years, as long as the can itself is in good condition (no rust, dents, or swelling). High-acid canned foods like tomatoes last 12 to 18 months, while low-acid foods like beans and corn can last up to five years if stored properly.
Store canned foods and other shelf stable products in a cool, dry place. Never put them above or beside the stove, under the sink, in a damp garage or basement, or any place exposed to high or low temperature extremes. Temperatures below 85 degrees Fahrenheit are best. Storage conditions matter far more than any date printed on the label.
5. Dry Pasta: Still Perfectly Edible Long After the Date
Dry pasta is one of the most reliably long-lived staples in any pantry. The low moisture content leaves almost no environment for bacteria or mold to take hold.
Dry pasta can last one to two years past its printed date. Packaged foods like cereal, pasta, and cookies will also be safe past the “best by” date, although they may eventually become stale or develop an off flavor. When stored in an airtight container and kept away from heat and humidity, pasta can remain perfectly usable well beyond that window too.
The only real risk is insects or moisture getting into the packaging. If the pasta looks clean, smells neutral, and the package is intact, it’s almost certainly still worth cooking.
6. Yogurt: Often Good a Week or Two Beyond the Date
Yogurt sits in a tricky middle ground because people know it’s dairy. The date appears and the assumption is immediate: it must be close to dangerous. Usually, it isn’t.
Use-by dates on perishable items like meat, yogurt, and eggs indicate peak quality. In most cases, a one-week grace period applies if stored properly. Yogurt’s natural acidity also creates an environment that slows spoilage bacteria considerably.
Look for any separation of liquid at the top, which is normal and safe. What you’re actually watching for is unusual mold, a pungent off-smell, or a slimy texture. Absent those, a yogurt that’s a week past its date is generally fine to eat.
7. Bread: Go by What You See, Not the Sticker
Bread’s printed date is almost entirely about texture. The real spoilage signal has nothing to do with a calendar and everything to do with what you can see with your own eyes.
Bread is typically safe past its “best by” date but may go stale. Visible signs of white or green mold should indicate it’s no longer safe to eat, as the mold hyphae can easily spread through the porous structure of bread. Unlike hard cheese, bread is porous enough that if mold appears anywhere, the whole loaf should go.
Some foods may start to spoil but are not necessarily unsafe to eat. An example is bread, which can become hard and stale but is still good to eat if used in other forms. Stale bread makes excellent toast, croutons, breadcrumbs, and French toast. It’s a waste to bin it just because the texture has changed.
How Storage Conditions Beat Any Printed Date
The single most important factor determining whether a food is safe is not the number printed on the package. It’s how that food has been handled and stored since it left the manufacturer.
Food safety depends more on storage conditions than a printed date. If foods are mishandled, food-borne bacteria can grow and cause food-borne illness before or after the date on the package. For example, if food that requires refrigeration is taken to a picnic and left out for several hours, it might not be safe if used thereafter, even if the date hasn’t expired.
Food products are safe to consume past the date on the label, and regardless of the date, consumers should evaluate the quality of the food product prior to its consumption. If foods are mishandled, before or after the date on the package, bacteria can quickly multiply. Proper refrigeration is doing far more work than any label.
Use Your Senses: The Most Reliable Expiration Test You Have
Every food safety expert and regulatory body agrees on one thing: your senses are still the best tool for judging whether food is safe. No label replaces them.
Use your senses when judging if food has gone bad. You will know when food has started to spoil by the unpleasant odor, flavor, or texture from bacteria. Always look for signs of spoilage before eating food that’s beyond the quality date listed on the packaging.
With an exception of infant formula, if the date passes during home storage, a product should still be safe and wholesome if handled properly until the time spoilage is evident. That’s the USDA’s own position, and it’s a sensible and grounded one.
The One Real Exception: Infant Formula
All of the above comes with one firm and non-negotiable exception, and it’s worth stating clearly.
The only food legally required to have an expiration date in the U.S. is infant formula. Federal regulations require a “Use-By” date on the product label of infant formula under inspection of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Using formula by this date ensures that it contains each nutrient in the quantity listed on the label. Formula must maintain an acceptable quality to pass through an ordinary bottle nipple. This date should always be respected without exception.
For every other food category discussed here, the printed date is a guideline about peak quality. The real expiration test is always smell, appearance, and texture. Trust those over the sticker.
Conclusion: Stop Letting Labels Decide for You
The sell-by date was never meant to be the final word on food safety. It was designed for inventory management, not as a health directive. Confusion over the meaning of dates applied to food products can result in consumers discarding wholesome food. To reduce food waste, it is important that consumers understand that the dates applied to food are for quality and not for safety.
Research shows that many consumers incorrectly believe that date labels indicate the date after which food is no longer safe to eat. In reality, date labels are most often a manufacturer’s estimate of a product’s optimal quality. That gap in understanding is where billions of pounds of perfectly edible food disappear every year.
Opening the fridge with fresh eyes, sniffing before you toss, and understanding what each label actually means could save the average household a meaningful amount of money annually while also reducing the environmental toll of unnecessary food waste. The date on the package is a starting point for awareness, not the end of the conversation.
