Listen to this article
Estimated 4 minutes
The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.
You might eat a bag of chips a week past its best-before date, but what about yogurt a month past its prime? And is that even safe?
As people try to save as much money as possible amid high grocery prices, many are buying food that’s closer to — or even well beyond — the best-before date on the package.
Some experts agree that’s not necessarily a bad thing, since best-before dates usually relate to food quality, not safety.
“Best-before dates are commonly misconstrued with expiration dates,” said Emily Browning, the P.E.I.-based senior operations manager for Atlantic Canada with Second Harvest, a Canada-wide organization that rescues surplus food from suppliers and retailers.
“’Best before’ does not mean ‘bad after’.… Legally, the only products that are required to have a best-before date are items that have a shelf-life of 90 days or less.”
‘Best before’ does not mean ‘bad after,’ says Emily Browning of Second Harvest. (Kevin Yarr/CBC)
The extra food Browning’s organization typically deals with comes from across the supply chain, either straight from farmers and producers or large and small retailers.
Because of what’s called “date coding” — in other words, best-before dates that are applied to products by the producer — lots of food is ending up in the trash that could have been feeding hungry mouths.
The appetite for less expensive options has led to discount grocery retailers popping up in some provinces, and the emergence of food waste apps like Flashfood, Too Good To Go and FoodHero that aim to help shoppers rescue products approaching their best-before dates.
Sylvain Charlebois, director of the Agri-Food and Analytics Lab at Dalhousie University in Halifax, said many discount grocers and apps offer food at rebates of between 40 and 80 per cent.
“I see people looking at dates in stores … and they’ll try to buy a product for which the best-before date is as late as possible,” he said.
“Are Canadians trading down when it comes to food? Absolutely. But most of the time it’s by necessity.”
Billions in unnecessary food waste
Charlebois points out that the biggest potential downside to the rise of discounted products could be food banks, which will have to purchase more as donations of food closer to its best-before date dip.
That’s a downside Second Harvest is trying to combat. Its rescued food goes exclusively to food banks and other non-profits, including 40 on Prince Edward Island.
The organization ensures donations haven’t been temperature-abused and that there’s no visible signs of decay.
‘It’s been really interesting to watch over the past few years people becoming more comfortable with the concept of consuming products past their best-before dates,’ says Emily Browning, senior operations manager for Second Harvest in Atlantic Canada. (Raphael Caron/Radio-Canada)
Beyond that, Second Harvest also relies on a tool it developed alongside the Canadian Food Inspection Agency to help consumers determine how long after a best-before date that a particular food is still safe to eat.
According to the timetable, for example, ground meat should be eaten by it’s best-before date — but you could freeze it and keep it for an extra two to three months. Meats like lamb, pork and whole poultry can be kept frozen for up to a year beyond their best-before date.
“It’s been really interesting to watch over the past few years people becoming more comfortable with the concept of consuming products past their best-before dates,” she said.
“We are seeing, perhaps, a slight shift. But we do know that in Canada nearly a quarter of avoidable food waste … is driven by date-coding practices. That’s approximately $12.4 billion worth of totally safe and edible food that’s getting thrown out every year.”