Anniversaries often are celebrated over dinner, but less celebrated “dinner dates” may deserve just as much attention.
The dates printed on packaged food sometimes are misunderstood, but can significantly affect health.
According to information from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, expiration dates often actually are “use by” dates, meaning the printed date is the last day the food manufacturer would guarantee the highest quality of taste, aroma and appearance.
These dates are printed as a service to consumers and usually appear on dairy, meat and other perishable products.
Other printed dates are “sell by” dates, after which grocers cannot sell particular food items.
These two types of dates are referred to as “open” by the food packaging and grocery industries because they are written in easily understandable forms, such as 042204 for today’s date.
Still others are “pack dates,” or the date the food was packaged.
Meat and canned vegetables often have “pack dates.”
“Sell by” dates are sometimes confused with expiration dates, and pack dates are often written in coded language that an untrained consumer would not understand.
Because of the encoded combinations of letters and numbers, sell by dates are referred to as “closed” dates.
Josh Whatley, a nutrition science and pre-med sophomore, said he has not yet taken many food-related classes, but that dates on packaged food do not often worry him.
“I look at the dates, but not whether it’s sell by or use by,” he said.
Whatley said he checks the dates on milk and bread before he buys them. He also has his own “rule of thumb” for packaged meats. “If I don’t freeze it, I won’t keep it more than five days,” he said. “I’ll throw it out.”
Spoiled milk is something Whatley said is worth being leery of. He said he got a “nasty” taste after drinking some that was past the expiration date.
“It kept me from doing it again,” he said.
Since then, Whatley has smelled his milk and closely eyed his bread before consuming either. He has a special description about how he knows when bread has gone bad. “I smell it,” he said. “If it doesn’t smell bad, and it’s not fuzzy, I eat it.”
Annrose Guarino, an LSU AgCenter assistant professor, said though “infants, the elderly and people with compromised immune systems” are the most susceptible to bacteria in food, college students also should be aware of what they eat.
But, research shows many students may not be as aware as Guarino hopes.
A University of Missouri-Columbia study examined college students’ attitudes, practices and knowledge about food safety and revealed “many consumers are uninformed and therefore susceptible to misinformation.”
Students with majors such as dietetics, nutrition, food science and other health related fields had higher knowledge levels — with a 74-percent average score — the report showed, but there was no significant difference in food safety practices.
The surveyed behavior that led to these results may shed light on the confusion about the three different types of packaged food dates — expiration, sell by and package.
Infant formula and drugs are the only products for which the FDA requires use by dates. The rest are suggestions from manufacturers.
FDA guidelines suggest storing food in “optimal” conditions is just as important as adhering to dates on packaged foods.
To be safe, Guarino said, food consumers should personally check food for freshness. Printed dates are helpful, but simply looking at the food or smelling it can give “signs of spoilage.”
“You don’t know if your brother didn’t leave that milk sitting out for three hours,” she said. “If it doesn’t smell right, throw out that milk.”