Forget Best Before Date, Trust Your Senses!

Best before … – and then into the dustbin? Nonsense, trust your senses!

Best before is overrated

The best-before date is often overrated: It only says that certain properties of a food are guaranteed until the specified date. A study by the Münster University of Applied Sciences came to the conclusion that the industry also uses the date to manipulate consumers. For example, to get rid of seasonal products such as Christmas stollen.

The study goes on to say that manufacturers often mark products from the same product batch with different best-before dates. This is done in this way because it suits the consumer’s shopping behavior. The food retail trade would demand it from the manufacturers. When shopping, consumers often choose products based on how fresh they feel. These are usually the foods that have the longest shelf life according to the label.

For example, if a customer buys yoghurt twice a week, he would like to be able to buy the yoghurt with a longer sell-by date on the second purchase than on the first purchase. Each delivery has a new best-before date so that the seller can offer his customers different remaining terms of the best-before date within a week.

Do not confuse: best-before date and use-by date

The problem: The psychological effect of the date is large – many mistakenly interpret it as an expiry date. It says “best before” and not “deadly from”. The use-by date is different from the best-before date. It is written on perishable food as “to be used by…” and is also meant literally: After the use-by date has expired, the food may no longer be sold. Then it actually belongs in the trash.

However, products whose best-before date has passed can still be sold. However, the retailer should indicate that the date has passed in order not to mislead the customer.