Lofty Matters

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Two drug store chains (Rite Aid and CVS) are being targeted and sued for selling expired dairy products, medicine and baby formula. The most surprising part about this situation is that neither federal nor state law requires most food items to be pulled from shelves when expired.

There are no policies as far as requirements for expiration dates on products except for pharmaceuticals and baby food. According to the FDA, the federal government requires expiration dates be printed on infant formula and baby food and these items must be removed for sale after that date. If this is not done, retailers can be held legally and financially responsible.

For other consumables, however, as long as a date is not tampered with for the purpose of misleading the consumer about a product’s freshness, there are no concrete rules about pulling items from the shelves past their prime.

Don’t think that retailers don’t have systems in place for product rotation, though. Employees routinely check for and remove outdated or nearly outdated items from shelves and use expiration dates as a guide. Items nearing expiration are usually clearly marked with reduced prices.

A wary shopper will check expiration dates to make sure that items bought are within freshness dates.
Consumer advocates recommend checking freshness dates before making purchases.

Most companies have return policies that allow for the exchange of outdated goods. Though expiration dates themselves are not mandated, product quality is.

Stores are not required to date items, but they are required to sell wholesome, safe food. Sell-by dates are a tool that helps sores manage this.

How to read freshness labels:

Best if used by or best before – The item is best used before the printed date for the best quality and flavor but is considered safe if consumed after.

Closed or coded dates – Printed for use by the manufacturer, these dates are found on canned and dry goods and are often indecipherable to consumers. Some use a month-day-year code (MMDDYYYY) or every day of the year is consecutively numbered. For example, January 1 would be printed 001 and December 31 would appear as 365. This is only one type of dating – the easiest to guess. These dates can contain fewer numbers or partial dates like only 2 digits for the year instead of 4, and the year can appear before or behind the month and day. You have to know which system is used or a “guess” could be wrong by years.

Sell by – This tells the store how long to display an item. Consumers should consume, cook or freeze the item within one to two days.

Use by – This is the last day the manufacturer predicts the item will be edible at “peak quality.”

A spoiled carton of milk offered for sale within its stamped expiration date would be wrong; a wholesome pound of ground beef offered for sale after its sell-by date is not unlawful.

Display dates speak to an item’s quality rather than its safety. Usually, food kept after its listed date will be safe to eat. The date listed is the manufacturer’s best estimation of the product’s peak taste and quality. Food should be consumed or cooked before its listed “use-by” date or at least within one or two days of its “sell-by” date.

Food that is immediately and properly frozen is considered safe indefinitely. Keep in mind, though, that food containing harmful bacteria such as salmonella or E. coli will be unsafe even before it expires.