The two dates on your food and why only one of them actually matters

What is the difference?

The rule is simple, but millions of us get it wrong every week. "Use-by" is about safety. "Best-before" is about quality.

If you eat something past its use-by date, you risk getting seriously ill. If you eat something past its best-before date, the worst that will usually happen is a slightly stale biscuit, a softer apple, or a yoghurt that has lost some of its tang. Treating these two very different terms as the same thing is one of the biggest drivers of household food waste.

Why use-by is non-negotiable

Use-by dates are found on foods that spoil quickly and could become dangerous if kept too long, such as meat, fish, and soft cheeses. These items can become breeding grounds for harmful bacteria like listeria and salmonella.

Crucially, you cannot always smell or taste these bacteria. A chicken breast might look and smell perfectly fine on day six, but if its use-by date was day five, it could still make you sick. Food safety experts advise that you should never eat, cook, or freeze food after its use-by date has passed.

The flexibility of best-before

Best-before is entirely different. It is simply the manufacturer’s estimate of when the food will be at its peak. After this date, the texture, colour, or flavour might start to degrade, but the food remains perfectly safe to eat.

This label applies to a wider range of foods, including eggs, bread, tinned goods, and dried pasta. For these items, your nose and eyes are your best tools. If a loaf of bread has no mould, it is fine to toast. If a yoghurt past its best-before date smells fresh and tastes normal, you can eat it without worry.

The scale of the waste

This misunderstanding has massive consequences. According to estimates by the waste reduction charity WRAP, UK households throw away millions of tonnes of food annually, much of which is still edible. This is bad for the environment and highly expensive for families trying to manage tight budgets.

To combat this, several major UK supermarkets, including Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Asda, have begun removing best-before dates from hundreds of fresh fruit and vegetable lines. The goal is to encourage shoppers to rely on their own judgment rather than an arbitrary calendar date.

How to make your food last longer

The easiest way to stop wasting food is to use your freezer. A use-by date is a deadline, but it is one you can pause. If you have mince that reaches its use-by date today, putting it in the freezer stops the clock. Just make sure that when you eventually defrost it, you cook and eat it within 24 hours.