Cost of living: Best before dates, use by dates and sniff test – what do they mean exactly?

Penny pinching pros at netvouchercodes.co.uk have shared their advice on what the difference between ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates are and the importance of the new sniff test.

With some major supermarkets removing the ‘use by’ labels on bottles of milk, shoppers are being encouraged to use the sniff test rather than chucking away expired food which is still safe to eat.

This is causing concern to those who are not aware of the labelling differences and are worried about consuming expired goods.

The change is being brought in by supermarkets in an attempt to tackle food waste following news of further food price increases for everyday essentials like dairy and vegetables.

When an item passes its best before date, it is not necessarily ‘out of date’ so Brits shouldn’t be too worried about this change.

In fact, this date is just a guideline for quality and freshness. It’s typically added by manufacturers and after this date has passed, the ‘best taste’ has gone.

Here are the different expiry date and sniff test meanings:

Best before dates

Most labels have the best before dates on the packaging, usually two or three days before the use-by dates - this is usually put on by manufacturers. Once you’ve passed the use-by date, it doesn’t necessarily mean the product is inedible, but it’ll just lack the freshness it once had and it will essentially lose its ‘best taste’.

While they may be lacking in taste and texture, they’re still safe to eat for a limited time and can help to save extra cash during a food shop.

Use by dates

Use by dates are often confused with Best Before dates. The labelled use-by date on a product is a recommended time for how long you should use a product by.

Meat and fish products should not be consumed after the 'use by’ date as there is a high chance that you’ll get food poisoning if you do. What you can do is freeze the meat before the expiry date for as long as nine months if it’s raw chicken.

Sniff test

This is the system being steadily introduced into supermarkets. If a milk carton was previously labelled as ‘best before 12 Sep 2022’, it’s likely to still have a few days of safe consumption afterwards.

You’ll be able to tell if your milk is off by the foul smell, so make sure to just give it the test instead of spending a fortune buying a fresh carton each time it goes beyond the labelled best before date.