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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?\u00a0<\/p>\n
As people try to save as much money as possible amid high grocery prices, many are buying food that\u2019s closer to \u2014 or even well beyond \u2014 the best-before date on the package.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some experts agree that\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing, since best-before dates usually relate to food quality, not safety.<\/p>\n
\u201cBest-before dates are commonly misconstrued with expiration dates,\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201c’Best before’ does not mean ‘bad after’.\u2026 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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‘Best before’ does not mean ‘bad after,’ says Emily Browning of Second Harvest. (Kevin Yarr\/CBC)<\/p>\n
The extra food Browning\u2019s organization typically deals with comes from across the supply chain, either straight from farmers and producers or large and small retailers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Because of what\u2019s called \u201cdate coding\u201d \u2014 in other words, best-before dates that are applied to products by the producer \u2014 lots of food is ending up in the trash that could have been feeding hungry mouths.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The appetite for less expensive options has led to discount grocery retailers popping up in some provinces, and the emergence of food waste apps<\/a> like Flashfood, Too Good To Go and FoodHero that aim to help shoppers rescue products approaching their best-before dates.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI see people looking at dates in stores \u2026 and they\u2019ll try to buy a product for which the best-before date is as late as possible,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAre Canadians trading down when it comes to food? Absolutely. But most of the time it\u2019s by necessity.\u201d<\/p>\n Billions in unnecessary food waste<\/p>\n Charlebois points out that the biggest potential downside to the rise of discounted products could be food banks<\/a>, which will have to purchase more as donations of food closer to its best-before date dip.\u00a0<\/p>\n That\u2019s 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n The organization ensures donations haven\u2019t been temperature-abused and that there\u2019s no visible signs of decay.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1789206132_386_default.jpg\")
‘It\u2019s 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)<\/p>\n