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California bans sell-by dates

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Re: California bans sell-by dates

#251

Post by int_19h »

nfw2 wrote: post #32
LeFantome wrote: post #11

This all makes massive sense to me. The people in my life treat any date on food as an expiry date and throw out massive amounts of perfectly edible food. Also, people do not seem to have any concept about the rate at which different food products spoil. Some things can be used way past the dates I see. Others really are going off by then.

My understanding from the article is that expiry ("use by") dates will still be needed, and sell-by dates are being removed because mean something different from expiry, but consumers (myself included until now) generally misunderstand this.

"Use by" is not an expiration date, either.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#252

Post by xp84 »

tiffanyh wrote: post #215
noduerme wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I first started dating my ex, I was at her place and she asked if I was hungry. I said yes, so she made me a tuna melt with mayo. As she had it in the oven I looked in the fridge. The tub of mayo was enormous and mostly empty. It was Kirkland mayonnaise. I said, "oh, you have a Costco membership?" "No," she said, "my ex used to." "The guy you broke up with 2 years ago?" I looked at the date on the mayonnaise. Ex…

> As she had it in the oven ... Cooking food typically kills off any bacteria.

This isn't an argument that you should turn into a 'throw away food after the best by date' person or anything, but it's important to understand one key point:

Suppose you have a piece of meat out on the counter for 12 hours. Then you put it in the oven and broil the heck out of it (say the whole thing gets to 190°F and zero of the bacteria in it survive). Is it hazardous?

Yes, it can be hazardous, because the compounds made by the bacteria while they were alive all day can themselves give you food poisoning even after you've sent the bacteria to a firy grave.

Disclaimer/note: I have zero idea about all the various specifics such as whether you're much safer depending if the left-out meat was cooked vs raw, what types of foods are risky or unlikely to harbor harmful bacteria, or how long it is probably safe at what temperature. I have only had food poisoning like 1-2 times, but it was awful so I just try not to do anything too careless.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#253

Post by EasyMark »

lupire wrote: post #226
anigbrowl wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I hate this kind of mendacity. Wanting to protect their dairy industry is understandable, but perpetuating a fraud upon consumers is not the way to do it.

It's not a fraud. It's a higher standard of quality, that is protectionist and arguably unnecessary and wasteful.

I think they mean fraud in the classical use of the word rather than a strict legal statute meaning.

m-w.com an act of deceiving or misrepresenting

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#254

Post by EasyMark »

sureIy wrote: post #107
hentrep wrote: post #52

Here’s the actual USDA article describing the difference between “sell by, “use by”, and “best by” terms: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-... I don’t have time to find a source that supports this, but I understand that these dates also refer to the durability of the “food safe” container/packaging. Ever drink water from an unopened plastic bottle that has been stored for awhile? That taste…

I wish regulators stopped trying to be poetic and just use clear English. What's "best by?" You need to write "do not eat after." Nobody needs to be explained what that means.

"best by" and "do not eat after" are not the same thing. Best by just means optimal freshness. Maybe you're thinking of "use by". "Sell by" is the thing giving people issues, as the food is still good but it's time for the -store- to rotate it out of inventory because it's not going to be as fresh after that date, and that leads to complainy customers.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#255

Post by potato3732842 »

bigstrat2003 wrote: post #130
ryukoposting wrote: post #100

When my wife and I moved in together, we had a spat about what "sell by" dates actually meant. She had been throwing away loads of perfectly good food because she misunderstood the meaning of the sell-by date. I don't remember who taught me what they actually mean, but I was able to point her to a USDA site that showed the actual meaning. I'm pretty sure that was the only time I have ever been right when she and I di…

My wife does the same thing, and I've been unable to convince her. Not talking perishable stuff, either - she'll throw out something like a bottle of hot sauce because it is a few months past the "best by" date. No matter how much I try to tell her that these things are shelf stable and will be good for even a year or more after the date, she doesn't believe me. I think that the show Kim's Convenience said it perfect…

Ironically, stuff like hot sauce that never goes bad because it's so incompatible with microbial life as we know it is the stuff that needs "best by" type verbiage the most because while it never becomes hazardous to consume the chemical processes of degradation (oxidation and friends) still happen and the product becomes less good.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#256

Post by EasyMark »

Fuzzwah wrote: post #228
ensignavenger wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"best buy" is pretty plain English. It means the manufacturer beleives the product will be at its best up to that date.

But you submitted "best buy" rather than "best by". Sort of invalidates your point.

it doesn't though since we all know what they meant. We all know the store doesn't use "best buy" except on coupons or sales circulars or it's a store named Best Buy.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#257

Post by WD-42 »

RoyalHenOil wrote: post #239
WD-42 wrote: post #165

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly this. I have chickens and when I collect the eggs they are usually completely clean. Only if I start to slack on cleaning the coop or one of the chickens gets sick do the eggs get dirty. I can imagine most eggs sold in the United States would be horrifying if not washed.

The size of the nestbox can be a factor as well. If the nestbox is too large for the breed of chicken you keep, it encourages them to hang out inside it, and they walk on the eggs and get them dirty. If a nestbox is the right size, it will only be used for laying eggs (and occasional brooding).

Hmm that is definitely possible. They do tend to track poop in from the main part of the coop to the boxes.

But if I keep the coop clean it’s not really a problem.

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#258

Post by gruez »

guelo wrote: post #101
hentrep wrote: post #52

Here’s the actual USDA article describing the difference between “sell by, “use by”, and “best by” terms: http://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-... I don’t have time to find a source that supports this, but I understand that these dates also refer to the durability of the “food safe” container/packaging. Ever drink water from an unopened plastic bottle that has been stored for awhile? That taste…

Those cheap plastic water bottles should be banned. They’re one of the greatest sources of micro plastics in our bodies. (Not to mention unstudied nano plastics)

>They’re one of the greatest sources of micro plastics in our bodies.

Source?

Re: California bans sell-by dates

#260

Post by karlzt »

tiffanyh wrote: post #122

Montana uses Sell-By dates to artificially ban out-of-state milk. They want to promote in-state business (dairy farmers). Montana purposefully has short Sell-by diary dates, because it makes it prohibitive for an out-of-state dairy to transport their milk into Montana. https://www.nrdc.org/bio/dana-gunders/how-montanas-sell-date...

>> Sell-by diary dates

dairy

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