Free Guide
What the Dates on Food Really Mean
Ph.D., Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University, 2014
Doctoral research and specialization in food safety · ServSafe Certified
Most dates are about quality, not safety
A date on a package is usually the manufacturer telling you how long it can promise the food will taste and look its best. It is not a line where food turns dangerous. Plenty of food is perfectly good for days, sometimes weeks, past the date printed on it, and a lot of good food is thrown away because of a date that was never about safety.
In the United States, federal rules do not require a date on most foods at all. The one exception is infant formula, which must carry a Use-By date, and that one is firm: do not buy or use formula after it, because the nutrients the label promises are no longer guaranteed.
What each label means
| Label | What it means | A safety date? |
|---|---|---|
| Best if Used By / Before | When the product will have its best flavor or texture. | No. It is not a purchase or safety date. |
| Use-By | The last date recommended for using the product while it is at peak quality. | No, except on infant formula. |
| Sell-By | How long the store should display the product, for its own stock rotation. | No. It is not a safety date. |
| Freeze-By | When to freeze the product to keep its best quality. | No. It is not a purchase or safety date. |
You will also see “Expires on” or “EXP”. Federal guidance does not define it for most foods; on a carton of eggs, for instance, it can be no more than 30 days after the eggs were packed. Read it the way you read a Use-By date: a quality promise, not a safety cutoff.
When a date matters less than the calendar
For a few foods the useful clock is not the printed date but how long the food has been in your refrigerator since you bought it or opened it. These are the foods most often behind food poisoning, and the bacteria involved usually do not change how the food looks or smells. At 40°F (4°C) or colder:
| Food | Keeps in the refrigerator |
|---|---|
| Raw chicken or turkey, whole or pieces | 1 to 2 days |
| Ground meat and ground poultry | 1 to 2 days |
| Deli meat, opened or sliced at the counter | 3 to 5 days |
| Deli meat, unopened package | 2 weeks |
| Hot dogs, opened package | 1 week |
| Hot dogs, unopened package | 2 weeks |
| Raw eggs in the shell | 3 to 5 weeks |
Eggs usually outlast the date on the carton, because that date is set from the day they were packed. Kept cold, raw eggs in the shell are good for 3 to 5 weeks. If you won’t use raw poultry or ground meat within a day or two, freeze it; frozen at 0°F it stays safe indefinitely. For cooked leftovers, see Cooling and Storing Food Safely.
Who should be stricter
Listeria is the reason deli meats, hot dogs and soft cheeses get extra care. It is one of the few bacteria that keeps growing at refrigerator temperature, and outbreaks have been traced to deli-sliced meats and to soft cheeses. Older adults, people with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns are at the highest risk. If that is you or someone you cook for, keep to the shorter times above, and either skip deli meat or reheat it to 165°F (74°C), until steaming hot, which is CDC’s advice for those groups.
When to throw it out, whatever the date
Food handled properly should still be safe and wholesome until spoilage is evident. Spoilage shows up as an off odor, an off flavor, a slimy or strange texture, or visible mold, and any one of those means it goes in the trash, whatever the date says.
- Bread and baked goods with mold: discard. They are porous, so the mold reaches below what you can see.
- Soft cheeses with mold, such as cottage or cream cheese: discard, for the same reason.
- Hard cheese and firm fruits and vegetables, such as cheddar, cabbage, bell peppers or carrots: cut off at least 1 inch around and below the mold spot and use the rest.
The reverse is not true. Food that looks and smells fine has not passed a safety test, which is why the higher-risk foods above go by days in the refrigerator rather than by how they seem.