what does the expiration date on food products actually mean?

Philippines
January 21, 2007 2:34pm CST
when it has to be sold or used?
1 person likes this
3 responses
grayangel
@grayangel (274)
• United States
21 Jan 07
On milk: to be use, Almost everything else:to be sold. This post kind of reminds me the talk I had about Zingers and other fat creating delicious treats. Those thing can last forever! Some of them have a shelve life of forty years!
SplitZip
@SplitZip (1488)
• Portugal
21 Jan 07
Eh, on what exactly are you basing this assumption that milk is different from other products? The expiration date is the consumption date. Which is why they sometimes write "Best before: dd-mm-yy"... and not "best sold before: dd-mm-yy" =p
underscore
@underscore (81)
• Philippines
21 Jan 07
this is the shelf life of a certain product and if you reached that date it is not safe for consumption anymore, coz bacterias now dwells on them....
SplitZip
@SplitZip (1488)
• Portugal
21 Jan 07
LOL, that's the same thing isn't it? Because products cannot be sold, by law, after their expiration date, as they are no longer safe to be used! Some products also indicate the expiration date after you have opened the packaging. Have you ever seen a symbol that depicts a little opened jar with a number on it? That's what it means, the number of months (usually) before the product is no longer safe to be used. This appears a lot on cosmetics.