The Fallacy of Expiration Dates

I sure am thankful for this beautiful Oregon summer we’re having. Gardens are bursting, people are happy and out on the streets, and everything just feels a little more alive when the sun is shining. Unfortunately, in terms of food, this means things ripen like crazy and bread starts to get that white and green fuzz just a little quicker than it did during the cooler months. As I sort through the bread in Urban Gleaner’s distribution center on this lovely Monday morning to make sure that the food going to Cherry Park is still fresh, it occurs to me that in all this time I have never searched under and around containers for the one label that leads to so much food being thrown away: the expiration date.

What does this date imply? It implies that the moment that date is reached, if we haven’t diligently monitored our consumption of the various food items in the house, a certain portion must be thrown out because it just isn’t good any more. This makes a lot of sense. We need to know when our food goes bad and many of the things we buy tell us exactly that.

Well, I thought they did. By the time I was in college, I started taking the dates a little less seriously. My yoghurt says it expired Monday and it’s Wednesday. No green, no fuzz, no bad smell – eat it. More recently, I discovered that the labeling of expiration dates is only required for infant formula and some baby foods. Turns out that the date on my yoghurt has nothing to do with it actually going bad. More often then not the date on food items is one of two things: a “sell by” date or a “use by” date. A “sell by” date is for the store’s purposes only. It denotes the date by which they want that product to be off their shelves. This is often the type of product that Urban Gleaners receives. The “sell by” date was what I thought was telling me my yogurt had expired when in fact it was just part of an organizational system for products within my grocery store- and a voluntary one at that. Stores aren’t even required to use a “sell by” date system!

“Use by” dates are slightly different, but still do not mean that a food is “expired”. This date refers only to quality, not safety. The “use by” date will tell you the date by which to consume the food if you want it at its best flavor or quality. Not that I’ve ever been able to tell the difference in my best-by-Monday yoghurt on Tuesday. Furthermore, the manufacturer of the product determines this date, as opposed to any sort of scientific formula or USDA standard. That seems to me a little like having appliances that are meant to break down just so we’ll keep buying them.

So, I guess what I’m trying to say is check out your food! Look at it, smell it, poke it. We wouldn’t throw away an apple that looked good just because it was a day past “peak freshness.” It’s the idea that these dates are for expiration. Attempts to protect our safety rather than parts of a grocery store’s stock system or a note from the manufacturer about optimal freshness. This is just a small way that we can each be a little more active in our own personal food system. This takes a little bit of bravery and may lead to a couple extra scrunched noses and ‘peyews,’ but I know I found comfort in feeling a little more autonomous and a little less wasteful.