Best By vs. Use By: What Food Date Labels Mean

You pull a jar of salsa from the back of the fridge. The lid says "Best By" and a date from two weeks ago. Is it fine? Is it trash? Someone in your home says "it's fine," someone else is already holding the trash can open.

Food date labels cause a lot of this. There are four common phrases, they mean different things, and most of them aren't about safety at all. Here's what each one means, when to take a date seriously, and how to use food before the date becomes a question.

Know that most dates are about quality

Most date labels tell you when food tastes its best, not when it becomes unsafe.

According to the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service, federal rules don't require date labels on food at all, with one exception: infant formula. The dates you see are mostly added by the manufacturer to show peak quality.

That doesn't mean dates don't matter. It means a date is one piece of information, not the whole answer. How the food was stored, whether it's been opened, and how it looks and smells all matter too.

The one firm rule: don't buy or use infant formula after its "Use By" date. That date is required and is about more than taste.

Read the exact words on the label

The phrase in front of the date tells you who the date is for and what it means.

• Best if Used By / Best Before: when the food will have its best flavor or texture. It's not a safety date and not a deadline to buy it. Crackers past their "best by" may be a little stale, not dangerous.
• Use By: the last date the maker recommends for peak quality. The USDA says it's not a safety date, except on infant formula. For refrigerated foods, treat it as your cue to use the food or toss it (more on that below).
• Sell By: a note for the store, telling them how long to keep the item on the shelf. It's about stock rotation, not your kitchen. Food is often still good for a while after its sell-by date if you store it right.
• Freeze By: when to freeze the food to keep its best quality. If you can't eat that chicken before the date, put it in the freezer before then. Our guide to making a freezer inventory covers how to label it so you don't lose track.

You'll also see strings of numbers and letters on cans and boxes, with no phrase at all. Those are usually pack codes, used by the maker to track batches. They aren't meant to be read as a "best by" date.

Treat the fridge differently from the pantry

Dates matter more for food that lives in the fridge than for food on a shelf.

Shelf-stable foods (dry pasta, rice, crackers, canned goods) mostly lose quality slowly. A box of cereal a month past its date might be a bit less crunchy. That's usually the worst of it, as long as the package is sealed, dry, and pest-free.

Refrigerated foods are different. Fresh meat, poultry, seafood, dairy, deli meats, and prepared foods can grow bacteria you can't see or smell. For these, play it safe:

• Keep your fridge at 40°F or below and your freezer at 0°F.
• Follow the package label, and use the FoodSafety.gov cold storage chart for how long things keep once opened.
• Eat leftovers within 3 to 4 days, or freeze them.
• If you aren't sure how long something has been open, toss it.

For canned food, the can itself tells you more than the date. Throw out any can that's bulging, leaking, rusted, or badly dented, whatever the label says.

Check the food, not just the date

For most foods, your eyes and nose are the next step after the label.

The USDA notes that food handled properly should stay safe until spoilage is evident, and that spoiled food develops an off smell, flavor, or texture. So before you eat something near or past its date, take a quick look:

• Smell: sour, sharp, or just "off" means it goes.
• Look: mold, slime, or an odd film means it goes. Soft foods like yogurt, bread, and soft cheese with mold should be thrown out whole, not scraped.
• Feel: sticky meat or a swollen package is a no.

One big caution: smell and look don't catch everything. Some bacteria that make people sick don't change how food smells. That's why the fridge rules above come first, and the sniff test is for pantry foods and fresh produce more than for old deli meat. When in doubt, throw it out.

Use food before the date shows up

The easiest date problem to solve is the one you never have.

Most food gets wasted because it's forgotten, not because it goes bad overnight. A few habits help:

• Put older food in front. When you unpack groceries, move what's already there forward and put new items behind it. This is called first in, first out, and we walk through it in First In, First Out: The Easiest Way to Waste Less Food.
• Make a "use first" spot. One bin or shelf in the fridge for anything close to its date. Check it before you cook or order takeout.
• Write the date on things you open. A strip of tape and a marker on a jar of pasta sauce ends the "how long has this been open?" debate.
• Freeze before the date, not after. Bread, meat, and many leftovers freeze well. Freezing on day one keeps quality much better than freezing on the last day.
• Buy for the week you actually have. If you know Thursday is a late night, skip the fresh fish you planned to cook that day.

Decide what to do with food near its date

When something is close to its date, you have more options than eat it or toss it.

• Cook it into something. Soft vegetables go into soup, sauce, or a stir-fry. Ripe bananas go into banana bread or the freezer for smoothies.
• Freeze it. If you can't use it in time, freeze it before the date and label it.
• Share it. An unopened, shelf-stable item you won't eat might be welcome at a food bank. Each food bank has its own rules about what it accepts, so check with yours first.
• Let it go. If it's past its date, it's a refrigerated food, and you aren't sure, it's not worth the risk. Don't feel bad. Note what it was so you buy less next time.

Doing it with Domesio

If you'd rather not dig through the fridge to read labels, Domesio can keep track for you. Add expiration dates as you put groceries away, and you'll see what to use first without opening every container. Organize items by location (fridge, freezer, pantry) so you know where to look.

Low-stock alerts flag what's running out, and you can add it to your shared shopping list in one tap. Everyone in your home shares the same inventory and list, so whoever is at the store can see what you already have.

Either way, a quick look at the label, the food, and the fridge temperature takes care of most "is this still good?" moments.