Best Before Date: What It Means and Can You Eat Food After It?

According to WRAP, UK households throw away around 6.4 million tonnes of food every year — of which roughly 4.5 million tonnes is perfectly edible food. Much of this ends up in the bin simply because the best before date on the packaging has passed. But does an expired best before date actually mean the food has gone off?

Usually not. Fango helps you track expiry dates so nothing gets forgotten — but understanding what those date labels actually mean is just as important. That knowledge alone can save you hundreds of pounds a year.

What does "best before" mean?

"Best before" is a minimum durability date — it tells you until when the manufacturer guarantees the product will be at its best quality: taste, texture, smell and appearance, when stored correctly. The label is governed by EU Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, which applies uniformly across all EU and EEA countries.

The key thing to understand: best before is a quality guarantee — not a safety deadline. When the date passes, the product does not automatically become unsafe. It may lose some of its peak quality — biscuits go soft, coffee loses aroma, yoghurt may taste slightly more sour — but the food can still be perfectly safe to eat.

Manufacturers also tend to set best before dates conservatively, building in a safety margin. The product is often at its best well before the date — and remains good long after it.

Best before vs use by — a critical difference

In most countries you'll encounter two types of date labels on food. According to the UK Food Standards Agency, the difference is fundamental:

"Use by" applies only to microbiologically perishable foods. In these products, pathogenic bacteria — such as Listeria or Salmonella — can multiply to dangerous levels with no visible or olfactory signs. Eating food past its use-by date is always a risk, even if it looks and smells completely normal.

Which foods can you eat after the best before date?

The following foods are generally safe to eat days, weeks or even months after their best before date — provided they have been stored correctly and the packaging is undamaged:

These are guidelines, not guarantees. How food was stored makes a significant difference: a broken cold chain or an open package shortens shelf life considerably. When in doubt, trust your senses — covered in the next section.

Which foods must not be eaten after use by?

These products must always be discarded once their use-by date has passed — even if they look and smell completely normal:

• Raw meat (chicken, beef, pork) and mince
• Fresh fish and shellfish
• Cold-smoked salmon and other cold-smoked products
• Unpasteurised milk and cream
• Cheese made from unpasteurised milk
• Ready-to-eat meat products not intended to be reheated (e.g. pâté, carpaccio)

In these products, bacteria can multiply to life-threatening levels without any visible signs of spoilage. That's why the use-by date is absolute — not a judgment call.

How to tell if best-before food is still good

When a best before date has passed, use a three-step sense check before eating:

1. 1
   Look — can you see any mould, unusual discolouration or liquid? If yes, discard.
2. 2
   Smell — does it smell normal? A sour, rancid or strange odour signals spoilage. Milk and meat are easy to judge this way.
3. 3
   Taste — a small taste will tell you if the flavour is still right. If anything seems off, don't eat more.

The rule of thumb: if any one of your senses raises a doubt, throw it away. But an expired best before date alone is never enough reason to bin food — especially dry goods or anything frozen.

Date label confusion drives unnecessary food waste

According to NRDC research, 73% of consumers associate date labels on packaging with food safety rather than quality alone. This widespread misunderstanding causes enormous amounts of perfectly good food to be thrown away every single day.

WRAP estimates that UK households waste food worth around £14 billion every year — approximately £800 per household. Globally, around one third of all food produced is lost or wasted (UNEP). A significant share of this could be avoided simply by understanding what date labels mean.

Two things help the most: understanding date labels correctly — which this article covers — and actively tracking what is about to expire in your fridge. Fango does the second part automatically: scan your receipt when you get home from shopping, and the app reminds you before anything expires.