are best before dates a con?

[the truth]

to get us to spend more money?

[Jake.]

Perhaps

[Withano]

No

[the truth]

people used to eat much of this food for weeks beyond the dates they suggets nowadays and they lived to tell the tale. just watch those shows were the homeless take tons of food from the large bins.

[MTVN]

Don't really see how a best before date makes you spend more :suspect: most things you can get away with eating a couple of days after their date but that's just them playing it safe because there'd be outrage otherwise if things were going off too early

[the truth]

Don't really see how a best before date makes you spend more :suspect: most things you can get away with eating a couple of days after their date but that's just them playing it safe because there'd be outrage otherwise if things were going off too early

eh you dont see? you buy a load of food, it says its A day past the best before date, so you chuck it out and buy more replacement food. thus buying more

[Jake.]

Tbf it isn't the supermarkets problem for them playing it safe/you not eating the food before the best before date

[the truth]

Tbf it isn't the supermarkets problem for them playing it safe/you not eating the food before the best before date

how do they actually measure these dates?

[MTVN]

More fool them for buying stuff you don't eat before it goes off :idc: the best before dates are just a guide anyway, you can use your common sense to see if something's safe to eat

[the truth]

More fool them for buying stuff you don't eat before it goes off :idc: the best before dates are just a guide anyway, you can use your common sense to see if something's safe to eat

the bananas look yellow but its 2 days past the date?

[Jake.]

the bananas look yellow but its 2 days past the date?

Eat them then? It's common knowledge that bananas are fine until they go all messed up and bruised on the outside lol

[Shaun]

I'm usually lenient with them and will eat something that's 1 or 2 days over it, and usually use my judgment to see if it smells or looks bad. Bread is a weird one, sometimes it lasts longer if you really wrap it up tight, sometimes the date is spot on.

[Jake.]

I'm more careful with bread, mainly because of small bits of mould which is hard to notice. But it seems to be okay if you really wrap it up lol

[AnnieK]

I don't really go by best before or sell by dates. It's mostly common sense, I'm a but wary of eggs but on the whole you can tell by look, smell etc. I have eaten things well past their dates and never been ill, other things have "turned" before the specified dates. There was a TV show about this a couple of years ago.

[Withano]

Best before means is the date the food tastes best before
Sell by date is the date the shops are not allowed to sell the items

Things like meat have a sell by date, things like coke and chocolate have a best before date.

If anything the best before date saves people money... They sell them for discount price once they past it in some corner shops..

I can't imagine many people throw out something thats past its best before date, realise they don't have it anymore and then replace it.. Thats just dumb..

[the truth]

Best before means is the date the food tastes best before
Sell by date is the date the shops are not allowed to sell the items

Things like meat have a sell by date, things like coke and chocolate have a best before date.

If anything the best before date saves people money... They sell them for discount price once they past it in some corner shops..

I can't imagine many people throw out something thats past its best before date, realise they don't have it anymore and then replace it.. Thats just dumb..

depends on the type of food and the person, you can bet millions throw stuff out too soon just to be over cautious

[Jake.]

depends on the type of food and the person, you can bet millions throw stuff out too soon just to be over cautious

That's down to them then, not the supermarkets

[Withano]

depends on the type of food and the person, you can bet millions throw stuff out too soon just to be over cautious

I don't understand this thread, it should be renamed 'does the best before date make people cautious'

[Withano]

Basically you can't die or even get ill with anything with a best before date. The item is simply 'best before' that date. It isn't a con.. Just a fact..

If you buy something with a sell by date but don't use it by that date, you are dumb and deserve to be conned.

[the truth]

theyre way shorter dates than they used to be, this encourages people to throw out food earlier, this could easily be a con, a ruse to get people to spend more in the supermarkets

[Marsh.]

No, "best before" means exactly that, it's at its best before that date.

If people are wasting money and food by throwing out tonnes of it due to best before dates then that's their own stupid fault. If you know you're not going to eat something within good time then don't bother buying it.

It's all common sense, the look of food, the smell of it is a huge indicator especially with dairy products.

These dates are a safeguard for the shops/supermarkets otherwise they'd have all kinds of lawsuits for food poisoning etc.

[Jake.]

No, "best before" means exactly that, it's at its best before that date.

If people are wasting money and food by throwing out tonnes of it due to best before dates then that's their own stupid fault. If you know you're not going to eat something within good time then don't bother buying it.

It's all common sense, the look of food, the smell of it is a huge indicator especially with dairy products.

:worship:

[lostalex]

most say "use or freeze by" on them, and it's probably good advice. And it just means for it to not lose quality. The longer you leave it sitting around eventually it starts to lose quality, even if it's still safe to eat, it won't be the same quality.

[Vicky.]

I dont know. On the one hand its kinda the consumers fault if they throw things out at the dates on the packing...as common sense would usually tell us if something is off or not. On the other hand, some people are really paranoid about food poisoning so would always stick to dates.

You can get ill off best before things too I think...the eggs in my fridge have a 'best before' date, not 'use by'. I'm pretty sure if I ate them a week or so after their best before date, I would get ill.

I dont tend to listen to the dates as such though. I have ate meat thats a couple of days out of code. I look at it and smell it...thats enough to tell me if its off. I have never been ill. Mind I would not take that chance if cooking for someone else.

I'm quite gross when it comes to food though, I have been known to cut mould off bread so that I can still have toast with it and stuff :joker:

[the truth]

I dont know. On the one hand its kinda the consumers fault if they throw things out at the dates on the packing...as common sense would usually tell us if something is off or not. On the other hand, some people are really paranoid about food poisoning so would always stick to dates.

You can get ill off best before things too I think...the eggs in my fridge have a 'best before' date, not 'use by'. I'm pretty sure if I ate them a week or so after their best before date, I would get ill.

I dont tend to listen to the dates as such though. I have ate meat thats a couple of days out of code. I look at it and smell it...thats enough to tell me if its off. I have never been ill. Mind I would not take that chance if cooking for someone else.

I'm quite gross when it comes to food though, I have been known to cut mould off bread so that I can still have toast with it and stuff :joker:

u hardcore biatch lol:spin:

[Josy]

people used to eat much of this food for weeks beyond the dates they suggets nowadays and they lived to tell the tale. just watch those shows were the homeless take tons of food from the large bins.

BBE dates dont suggest you will be ill or worse if you continue eating the stuff after the date though, it's just a suggestion that it will be better quality if consumed before that date...I take Use By dates more serious.

I am very cautious when it comes to food in general though and must admit I do throw a lot of bread out, I don't like eating it if it's been opened for more than a day and tend to throw the rest of the loaf out to the birds and open fresh stuff.

And no I don't think it's a con.

[Nedusa]

Don't you just hate it when you buy a bunch of bananas that are green and not ripe enough to eat. So you wait a few days and a few days more for them to yellow and ripen.

Then you turn your back on them for 5 minutes and hey presto they are black and rotting...!!

What the hell's that all about.....???

[InOne]

I always tend to buy thing I'm going to eat in at least a week. I don't do mass shops for the month, find it a bit pointless.

[Marsh.]

I'm quite gross when it comes to food though, I have been known to cut mould off bread so that I can still have toast with it and stuff :joker:

:laugh: I've done that, when desperate for bread to dip in my soup and couldn't be bothered going the shop.