They might hedge it a little towards lessening waste but it’s a particularly difficult nut to crack.
I’ve seen canned goods last a decade past a 2-year shelf life date. It’s largely dependent on the exact sterility of packing which in most cases is an undetectable variable.
I don’t know how exactly it’s set up in the US, but in Germany the best before date means essentially “we guarantee no substantial change”. That means, if the liquids in a yoghurt start to separate after a week, the date is one week after production, even though the complex refurbishment of “stirring” might make the product perfectly edible for weeks after. I’m involved in a local food sharing community and I’ve eaten yoghurts literally months after the official shelf life, they were fine.
Two separate dates would already do the trick. Like “best before” and “not after”. Both are relevant, but they mean very different things.
I mean, that’s essentially what California is doing in the article.
Products here are all over the place with Best by, use by, use or freeze by, majority of them contain the absolute minimum amount of time before product degradation. But a lot of products simply have a date on them without any explanation. It could be used by it could be best by or it could be date of manufacture on them.
It would be good for us to get some better rules around it.
They might hedge it a little towards lessening waste but it’s a particularly difficult nut to crack.
I’ve seen canned goods last a decade past a 2-year shelf life date. It’s largely dependent on the exact sterility of packing which in most cases is an undetectable variable.
I don’t know how exactly it’s set up in the US, but in Germany the best before date means essentially “we guarantee no substantial change”. That means, if the liquids in a yoghurt start to separate after a week, the date is one week after production, even though the complex refurbishment of “stirring” might make the product perfectly edible for weeks after. I’m involved in a local food sharing community and I’ve eaten yoghurts literally months after the official shelf life, they were fine.
Two separate dates would already do the trick. Like “best before” and “not after”. Both are relevant, but they mean very different things.
I mean, that’s essentially what California is doing in the article.
Products here are all over the place with Best by, use by, use or freeze by, majority of them contain the absolute minimum amount of time before product degradation. But a lot of products simply have a date on them without any explanation. It could be used by it could be best by or it could be date of manufacture on them.
It would be good for us to get some better rules around it.