What is the best before date? Originally health departments wanted people to be aware that certain foods containing living tissue had a peak freshness date. Primarily, every particle is held together by an attraction or magnetism factor. Each of these relationships has a chemical type bond with a limited life span. Once this peak has been reached the attraction factor diminishes and separation starts or in other words decay sets in causing the particles to separate. This is the expiry date.
The originates of this date was intended for milk, bread, and various other baked goods. In some cases, consumers would eat foods past their peak freshness dates and subsequently become ill often due to food poising. It wasn’t long before some brilliant people figured out that if people became fearful of becoming sick, they would toss items that had reached their expiration date without even checking to test the correctness of the date, in other words, the product was still consumable. Thus, once chucked the product had to be bought new again which stimulated more sales, more consumption and often more taxes collected.
For example, Ideal Protein which is in an aluminium pouch that repels all bacterial attacks with exception to two destructive forces. The first a penetration with breaks the barrier of the aluminium or two, the glue holding the pouch opening closed deteriorates over time letting oxygen in which leads to oxidation (rusting) of the contents. At Beauty-Full Spa Pickering, they have carried Ideal Protein Pickering since 2005, and the manager has often stated, who do you think consumes the expired product. Paul Avis, the manager, says in 2019, he is still eating Ideal Protein that expired in 2008, why it is still good. Paul states, “just because someone puts on an expiration date, does not make it bad to eat, it is just a date that is supposed to the product’s peak freshness date.
Furthermore, you find yourself going through that box of various pills for your unexpected headache. It is 3 a.m., and you are not getting dressed to leave the house. You find in the box 400 mg no brand headache capsules that expired three years ago. You take two or three to replace the one. You are not taking 1200 mg, most likely 500 mg, why the chemical bond is broken making each capsule weaker but not out of the game”.
Paul admits that in the case of milk, bread and other baked goods its best to smell the contents, maybe a little taste. If off, chuck it. If you are eating something from a can and the top or bottom is building out, toss it.
Over time everything breaks down including the aluminium, cement, steel, wood, etc. Every single thing on earth be it man-made or in its natural state has an expiration date. Please stop the foolishness and smell, taste or look for decay before you toss anything that has an expiration date. Furthermore, look at what you are purchasing and if it is near the expiration date take it to a store manager and ask for a discount. They would rather you move it from their inventory before offering it up for next to nothing. In many retail judications, it is illegal to sell the expired product without making it clear to the consumer that the best before date has passed. Many of these items often find their way to the Food Banks who readily accept them as they understand not to hate the player but hate the game!