Donald E. de Castro. Photo: VINO/File

One of the problems I face with one of the sites they seldom print what I send in, they would take the article and rewrite it so often it is misleading, while the other site and the Beacon would publish it just as I send it.

Best-By, Sell-by and Use-by dates actually mean three different things when it comes to food safety. None of these dates are literal expiration dates that reflect when a product will become harmful to eat. They only mark the point at which it’s reached peak quality, consistency or flavor, leading to a lot of confusion and still-good food thrown out before its time, according to the Institute of Food Technologists.

Is food fresh until Feb 1^st and then you throw it out on Feb 2^nd? Ask Jeanne Goldberg, professor at the Friedman School of Nutrition, Science and Policy at Tuffs University. It is an inexact science. Those dates include a margin of safety; worse most dates can be misleading. In the U S, both the Federal Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture have a laid back attitude when it comes to food shelf-life labeling. The only items required by federal law to be labeled for expiration dates are BABY FORMULA and SOME BABY FOODS.

Mark Harrison, Professor of Science at the University of Georgia, points out that pasteurised milk usually remains fresh for five days after its sell-by date, as for eggs they can last as long as five weeks after the sell-by date. Ultimately, most of these labels should be used as a guide, rather than a hard and fast expiration date. And the confusion might even be a little deliberate on the part of the government. Once the consumer takes it home, not even the government can find out exactly what happened, which is why it’s unlikely you will have a definitive safety label on perishable foods, says Harrison of the University of Georgia.

Because of these dates there is a big problem in the US whereby people toss out approximately $640 billion of relatively good food each year; this is according to the American Chemical Council. An earlier analysis by the Institute of Food Technologists found that consumers throw away approximately 133 billion pounds of food a year.

A 2013 report by the Natural Resources Council and Harvard Food Law and Policy stated that up to 90% of consumers have thrown out food based on expiration dates, assuming that the food is unsafe to eat. This sort of mentality only leads to food waste. In other words, let common sense and your senses be your guide, says Doctor Kristin Kirkpatrick of the Well Institute.

Remember, dates are just guidelines and are put there voluntarily by the manufacturers and not required by any US Federal Law.

Here are a few examples of dates on food labels that should interest you. Beer, unopened still good 4 months after date; Brown sugar, indefinitely, if stored in a moisture proof container in a cool dry place; Chocolate, (Hershey bar) one year after production date; Coffee, canned ground, unopened 2 years, opened one month; Diet soda and soft drinks in plastic bottles, unopened, three months from best buy dates, opened, does not spoil but taste may be affected; Dried pasta, twelve months; Frozen dinners, unopened twelve to eighteen months; frozen vegetables, unopened, eighteen to twenty four months, opened one month; honey indefinite shelf-life; Bottled Apple and Cranberry juice, unopened eight months from production date, opened  seven to ten days; Ketchup, unopened, one year, after this time, colour or taste may be affected but still safe to consume; Maple syrup, real or imitation, one year; Mayonnaise, unopened, indefinite shelf-life, opened two to three months; Bleach, three to six months from purchase -by date;  Dish detergent, liquid or powder, one year; Laundry detergent, liquid or powder, unopened nine months to one year, opened, six months; Canned fruits and vegetables will last indefinitely, however, that rule goes out the window if they are exposed to freezing temperatures or temperatures above 90% F and be careful of damaged, dented or rusty cans. That does not mean if you drop a can and it gets dented it is automatically no good.

I now hope that information will help you to save hard earned money and stop throwing it in the garbage. Who do think pays for all the waste? We, the consumers. And who benefits? The manufacturers of course, it helps to keep their prices high. Why are you who are incapable of understanding that dates on food labels are just a guide not concerned about FLOURIDE, (the main ingredient in rat poison) that the water company is putting in our water? Remember, “Facts and statistics may change but the truth remains the same.”

THE TRUTH IS: “DATES ARE JUST A GUIDELINE.”

In conclusion, I would like you to tune in to Straight Talk at 8pm on the second Wednesday of each month.