Yes, so long as it’s not too far past the expiration date and you stored the food properly. Can I Eat Food After the Food Expiration Date? They understand this, so they tend to pick a conservative best-by date to decrease the risk of customers encountering spoiled, moldy food. While food manufacturers can control the condition in which the cans leave their warehouse, that’s the extent that they can control. Just because the code says “April 6, 2021,” doesn’t mean that the food will immediately turn bad on that day. One thing that you should remember is that the expiration codes aren’t perfect or an exact science. Expiration Date Codes Aren’t An Exact Science If you find a three-digit code for 213, that refers to August 1st, but it would be hard to determine that on your own without a lot of counting.“001” stands for January 1st, and “365” stands for December 31st.This is most commonly used on eggs, but some canned good manufacturers use it as well.That can be quite confusing since we never think of this option. In other cases, the company might use the Julian Calendar, assuming a number for each day from 1 to 365. If they use the year-month-date sequence, the label might read “181014” for October 14, 2018.Ĥ.These are the most common code to find on food products.Most six-digit codes are the month-day-year code. Another option is that the closed code could be made entirely of numbers in the standard order used for dates, such as MMDDYY or YYMMDD. Use-by or Sell-byįollowing the opening date, you’ll find a label with “use-by,” “sell-by,” or “pull-by.” These dates are meant for customers to let them know the estimated date when the product will start to deteriorate, and they also let the grocery stores know how long they should keep the products on the shelves.ģ. These dates are chosen by the manufacturing company, and it’s up to the consumer to decide whether or not to follow them. This date uses standard time or calendar dates. There are two types of food expiration date codes on products: Open Dating So that means all other companies do so on a voluntary basis. The United States doesn’t have a regulated system for coding except for baby food and infant formula. How to Read Expiration Date Codesįinding the code can be hard it depends on the product you’re reading.

Not so fast, Sally! In normal times, you might toss out those cans and not stress about the $1 you lost, but in survival situations, each can is essential, so you need to know how to read the expiration date codes and understand non-perishable food safety. Want to save this post for later? Click Here to Pin It On Pinterest!

Expiration date on cheez its