"Best Before" dates, "Packaged On" dates, "Expiry" dates...Oh My!

Posted 03/31/09 by don | Filed under: megamartFinds

I just came across an interesting piece from the CBC entitled "Is my food still safe after the 'best before' date?" It is filed under Food Safety: Recession Tips, and was published several days ago. The fact is that those of us who wander the aisles of the mega-mart rarely stop to consider that there are actually three types of date codes, stamped, stickered, or written (sometimes scribbled unintelligibly) on food packaging: Best Before dates, Packaged-on dates, and Expiry Dates.

According to the CBC piece, "Best before" dates are mandatory on packaged goods with a shelf life of 90 days or less. "Packaged-on" dates are mandatory on meat and co-ordinate with a chart that is displayed at meat counters. This chart is meant to help consumers determine how long meat is safe to consume from the date it is packaged. Me, I've seen that chart, but I never thought that it applied to my purchase. "Expiry dates" are mandatory on "fortified" foods and medication. The nutrients in fortified foods and active substances in medication (particularly prescription drugs) degrade over time. Some can become dangerous to consume after their expiry date.

Further, best before dates are voluntary on packaged goods with shelf lives longer than 90 days. While it is legal to sell products in Canada past their best before dates, it is not legal to sell products after their expiration dates. Retailers are also not permitted to tamper with best before dates.

CBC offers the following general "rules of thumb" for handling dairy and meat, presumably with guidance from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) and Health Canada (HC). So long as it does not develop an off colour or odour, refrigerated cheese can be salvaged by cutting away "2.5 cm around any mold." Raw beef or pork can sit in the fridge 3-5 days after purchase. Chicken should be cooked a day or 2 after purchase. Frozen pork can last 4-6 months. Frozen beef, 6-12 months and frozen chicken, a year. Ground meat, on the other hand, should be cooked on the day of purchase. Immediately frozen, it can last 3-4 months.

What about foods away from the meat or dairy cases? According to a similar CTV piece, with guidance from a food scientist from the University of Guelph, opened bottles of ketchup can last months, so long as they do not sit out at room temperature for any prolonged lengths of time. Similarly, pickles and relish can last 2 months. Foods packed in oil can last a year, so long as the contents stay submerged. Unopened glass jars of jam can be stored for 12 to 18 months, so long as they are kept away from light. Canned foods, have varying shelf lives depending on their contents. Properly stored, high acid canned foods can last up to 18 months. Low-acid canned foods vegetables can last between 2 and 5 years. Please note that dented or dinged cans can result in broken seams, which can lead to bacterial contamination, making the contents inedible.

This said, have you ever tried to decipher "Packaged on" or "Produced on" dates on packaging, particularly on voluntarily marked foods? Some are explicit dates. Others, random strings of numbers and letters. Some manufacturers emboss or etch lids with barely legible codes. Others, print them. Such is not surprising considering that food producers have reportedly been less than forthcoming, regarding information on food packaging, especially when it comes to nutrition.

Happily, websites like the Consumerist have taken the time to publish guides for making sense of "Packaged on" or "Expiration" codes. The following are two cheat sheets from a recent set of guides:

Date Codes
Source: Consumerist.com

More Date Codes
Source: Consumerist.com

What really surprised me is that multi-digit codes can involve Julian dates. Our traditional calendar system is Gregorian. Wikipedia.net has long and involved entries on the historical significance and emergence of both systems. For our purposes, we need only tables that map the Gregorian calendar days to Julian ones. For a regular year's Julian dates, click here for a table from the Colorado State University. For a leap year, click here.

Let's put the Consumerist's guides to task on a selection of Ottawa purchased grocery:

Can of Delmote Creamed Corn

Top with unintelligible imprinted date code.

Bottom with legible printed date code
7363B translates to YDDD (DDD being a Julian date). According to the guide and the non-leap year table, the date code means December 29, 2007 and the can's best before date is 2 years from that date. I guess this explains why Delmonte canned goods, with a year's remaining shelf life, were on sale in January 2009.

Bottle of Ragu Sauce

No Date Codes on Label

Explicit Date and Date Code Printed on Top
According to the explicit date, the best before date is either May 7, 2009 or March 7, 2009. 71107PL is not decipherable by the cheat sheets. I guess American bottles of Ragu Sauce have different date codes and not dates.

Pair of Mars Bars

No Date Codes on Front or Side of Wrapper

Date Codes Printed Underneath
818CA95 translates to YW____ (W being a standard week number). According to the guide and the ISO standard for week numbers, the date code means Week of May 1, 2008 and the candy bar has a 40 week shelf life from that date. As such, the best before date is the week of February 23, 2009 (18 + 40 - 52). I guess I purchased a soon to be expired Mars Bar.

846DA01 also translates similarly. Accordingly, the date code means Week of November 10, 2008. Its best before date is the week of August 17, 2009 (46 + 40 - 52). Don't worry, this particular Mars Bar is residing in my fridge. It won't last the week.

Anyone else slightly perturbed by how involved it is to decipher best before dates of food? It feels like you're writing a math contest...

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Comments

It's hard to remember to check all these dates when purchasing items. Most of the time I am in too much of a hurry to stop at every can and bottle to look it up. Thankfully most Ottawa retailers I shop at will take the items back if I get it back to the store within a few days of purchase. You wouldn't believe the amount of expired or soon to expire items sitting on grocery shelves, especially at cut-rate retailers like food basics and price choppers...

Interesting fact revealed to me by a butcher turned hairdresser is that beef is at its best just before it actually turns bad. Proper cooking is essential in that case.

Posted by yannick at 04/01/09 06:56:53

Indeed. Dry aging beef concentrates flavours and tenderizes the meat. Really high end steak houses age pre-butchered beef for a month in a temperature controlled environment. These days, intensively farmed cows are killed on Monday, butchered on Wednesday, and wrapped in plastic for sale on Friday. And, I have yet to be convinced that there are any flavor or texture benefits from wet aging.

BTW, it's a sad state for society if butchers are forced to become hair dressers. I concede that butchery is becoming artisanal, but there should be a place for a good butcher (and fish monger for that matter) in any neighborhood. Where else can I splurge on dry aged steak to celebrate the small triumphs in life?

Posted by don at 04/01/09 08:20:32

Superstore always puts a 50% sticker on their steaks and other packaged beef about 2 days for the BBD. Saturday mornings are often a good time to check out the 50% off meats!

Posted by jenn at 04/01/09 12:47:25

You can also safely consume eggs and yogurt weeks past their best before dates, provided they have been stored properly.

Posted by jenn at 04/01/09 12:49:47

I spent one week last winter 09-10 calling companies asking how to decipher the codes on cans, packaged food stuff etc. I made up a card index for these and finally found out why some of my cooking did not taste good. I went through all my shelves and and checked dates against sales slips which I keep for a year and some food was already expired at date of purchase. I returned four plastic grocery bags to one store and three to another. I was not well received at the primary one and was not asked if I wanted to be re-imbursed which I did not. I would not leave accepting the attitude given, The blame was passed on to the sales people employed by the companies and the store just did a random check. The second store pleaded ignorance of everything and offered to re-imburse. I refused to accept as money was not the major thought in my mind, it was the thought of eating well expired foods, even for company that irritated me to no end. All these bags of garbage food was taken home by me and put out with the weekly garbage. All of the companies that I contacted taught me how to read the codes. It was no wonder that I could not read this for myself. Explanation: the time of day it was made, what warehouse was used and the 237th (example day of the the year in the year noted by a number expiring in 18 months from that date. Example Betty Crocker Bisquick: G731KC1 G7 month and year made as per alpha order =July 2007& 31st day of month when packaged. K somewhere in the factory. C1 Shelf life one year to July 31, 2008. I had noted that according to my sales receipts the boxes were still on the shelf after shelf life. It had become a game of hit and miss if my dunplings would turn out right everytime. That is just a sample. When I shop, I use my index cards to be able to buy useable products which has increased my shopping time tremendously. If the product does not appear on my list, I will only purchase it if I intend to use it within a week. I write down the product name, the code and the contact phone number and ask for the code to be explained to me. I did not have to do this years ago because with a large family, nearly everything had to be re-stocked continuously. Now I am down to just me and there are items I like to have on hand for unexpected company and will only buy in advance for planned meals. I, along with others cannot afford to throw out cans and packaged foods because companies wish to give us shelf life in codes. I feel we are being cheated by "wise marketing ploys". I rest my case. Thank you

Posted by Rita Rail at 03/09/10 13:06:59

What a mess indeed but necessary when fresh food is not available. Another code for Robert Langdon to break for all of us...

Posted by Marc-André at 07/07/10 11:04:07

I have been trying to find a contact number for Betty Crocker as I am trying to find the expiry date for Bisquick ( not an easy feat as it is not on your list either and they don't seem to have a contact number for the food division ( at least one that I can find) and with all of the publicity about molds in expired food it really makes one nervous about using expired food.

Posted by Sandra Estrella at 07/09/10 14:41:56