Cheddar, eggs, hamburger, cucumbers, tuna salad – all likely suspects in your refrigerator, but are they delectable meals or dangerous substances?
And really, how can you know?
They all have expiration dates, of course, but those are decided by manufacturers and labeled for consumers to let them know when a product is at its premium. Other than baby formula and baby food, the federal government doesn’t require producers to post expiration dates on food, even perishable ones. It’s up to you.
So can you actually drink that expired milk? Can you scramble those 2-week-old eggs? Will you die a slow and painful death if you grill that accidentally aged ground chuck?
Intriguingly, hospital kitchen chiefs and health inspectors toe the line on the job, saying they throw out any product with an expired date, not willing to take the chance of sickening a patient or a customer.
But at home … we-e-l-l, that’s another matter.
“We err on the side of caution; we throw it out,” said Stephanie Gall, lead dietician at Mercy Regional Medical Health Center, of any fresh or packaged food that looks the least bit peaked, much less if it’s beyond the use-by date.
But in her own kitchen?
“I have eggs in the fridge at home. They’re three weeks over the date, but will I still use them? Of course,” she said, laughing.
Truth be told, online health guides say eggs are good for up to five weeks beyond their sell-by date. (And with eggs, you can always tell – they stink if they’re spoiled.)
Mikel Love, a registered dietician and head of the kitchen at Animas Surgical Hospital agrees. No wiggle room at work – anything that’s beyond its preparation or expiration date goes into the trash. At home, she uses her own judgment.
“If your mixed greens are wilting, don’t eat them. Cucumbers go bad really fast, and it’s just gross, so I throw them out,” she said.
But what about yogurt, that healthy but highly perishable ready-to-go breakfast and snack?
“I would look at it and smell it, and if it tastes like yogurt, I would eat it,” she said.
Love notes that refrigerator vegetable drawers cause problems because smaller items like avocados and asparagus can get stuck behind the romaine and chard and not see the light of day until they’re too soggy or smelly to eat. She recommends placing vegetables on the open shelf where you’ll see them and hopefully be inspired by guilt or frugality to actually eat them.
And she and Gall offer a word to the wise – once you’ve washed vegetables or fruit, eat them, or they’ll go bad and soon. Another tip? Organic produce spoils within half the time of non-organic fruits and veggies. They may be healthier and tastier, but because they are preservative-free, organics are strictly for immediate consumption.
You might not think of it, but non-perishable items like mustard, vinegar, soy sauce and other condiments all have best-if-used-by dates on them. You can fudge, but once again, do the sniff test. If they’re off even slightly, don’t take a chance. And while spent spices won’t kill you, they won’t help you either, as their capacity to flavor a dish ends at six months.
“Six months! That’s crazy,” said Charlie Mason, grocery manager at Natural Grocers, who admits that even a past-due date on a can of tuna would not deter him from making it a meal.
But at the store, he regularly discounts packaged goods approaching their sell-by dates, getting rid of crackers, pasta, tea and other dry goods before their potency and flavor start to wane. Barring that, he sends them to local aid groups like the food pantry.
At Steaming Bean, they sell pastries the day they arrive, discount them by half price the second day, then throw them out. Pies can be sold for three days max, and gluten-free goods, because they’re packaged, can be sold for four.
Doug Sutherlin, owner of Doug’s Auto Body, says he makes sure to buy the packages furthest from the front on a grocery store shelf. He also puts newly bought canned goods in the back of the pantry so he uses the oldest ones first. While his wife was out of town recently, he got by on sandwiches, but he said he made sure to check the date on the luncheon meat.
His colleague Wayne Hullett is not one to pass up grocery store discounts on almost-outdated food.
“I’ll buy it on the expiration date because it’s on sale, and then I’ll go home and use it up,” he said.
For all you label readers out there, you know how confusing deciphering the dates can be. Products can say “best used by,” “sell by,” “packed on” or just have a date. What’s the deal?
“The terms are nothing more than Marketing 101,” said Jeff Lawrence of the Colorado division of Environmental Health and Sustainability. “It’s sort of the same notification of quality to the consumer.”
In other words, “best used by” is the manufacturer telling you that after that date, the quality of the product declines. “Best sell by” means that’s the last date a store should display an item. “Packed on” is the manufacturer’s notice of the date of production. And expired means just that – eat at your own risk.
The food industry labels its products to minimize its liability for food-borne illnesses, Lawrence said. Manufacturers generally follow conservative guidelines when dating their products to reduce the chance of a customer falling ill.
The flip side to that is consumers throw away hundreds of dollars a year in edible food. Estimates put the total waste at more than a billion dollars in the U.S. alone.
“It’s like flushing money down the toilet,” Gall said.
But for cautious consumers like Gigi Baty, head of continuing education at Fort Lewis College, the savings isn’t worth the risk.
“If it’s expired, it’s gone,” she said. “You get over putting money before safety.”
So, how long has that bologna been in the meat drawer? For the well-being of your taste buds and your belly, you better check.
phasterok@durangoherald.com
