BetterA yogurt dated yesterday goes in the bin. A jar of sauce "two days past" too. And the money they cost goes with them.
In the vast majority of cases, that food was still good, and the date used to condemn it was not talking about that at all.
A "best before" date is about freshness and quality, not safety. An "expiration date", by contrast, marks the last day a food is safe, and it is mandatory on only six kinds of product, most of which are never in a home. Selling and eating a food after its best-before date is not prohibited.
The confusionTwo dates that measure different things
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency separates them without ambiguity:
It "indicates the last day a food is safe". After that, you do not eat it.
It is about "the freshness and quality of food, as well as how long it keeps, and not food safety".
That is the whole difference. A best-before date that has passed does not make a food dangerous: it signals that the food may lose some of its freshness, flavour and nutritional value, and that its texture may change.
And it is not illegal. The Agency writes it plainly: "It is not against the law to sell food after the best-before date. You can buy and eat food whose best-before date has passed."
The listThe only foods with a real expiration date
The expiration date is not left to the manufacturer's choice: it is mandatory on a short list of products, and only on those.
- formulated liquid diets;
- meal replacements;
- nutritional supplements;
- infant formula and foods containing it;
- controlled availability: foods designed for a very low-energy diet;
- controlled availability: human milk fortifiers.
Unless you are feeding a baby or following a particular diet, it is likely that no food in your home carries a real expiration date.
Everything else, the yogurt, the sauce, the crackers, the milk, the tin, carries at most a "best before" date. On those products, the date is an indication of quality, not an alarm.
Something else worth knowing: not all foods have to carry a date at all. Fresh fruit and vegetables, for instance, are not required to. But the food industry may choose to print one anyway. A printed date is therefore not necessarily a legal obligation.
The methodWhat to look at instead
If the date does not settle it, what does? The Agency gives the answer: your own judgment.
It recommends opening the packaging and looking for signs of spoilage, such as mould or an unpleasant smell.
And it states the condition that makes all of this hold: stored according to the instructions on the packaging, an unopened product can still be eaten several days, even weeks, after its best-before date. Storage therefore matters as much as the date, sometimes more.
Take actionThe habits that make the difference
This is where the economics and the environment say exactly the same thing. Food thrown out is money already spent, plus production, transport and packaging for nothing.
When money is tightWhen eating becomes hard
Cutting waste helps, but it does not replace a budget that does not balance.
If groceries become a problem, food assistance exists across Quebec, and turning to it does not require being at the end of your rope. That is the subject of our article on food assistance (in French). And to regain control of the rest, budgeting when money is tight (in French).
Frequently askedYour questions
What is the difference between "best before" and an expiration date?
They do not measure the same thing. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency puts it this way: an expiration date indicates the last day a food is safe, whereas best-before dates are about the freshness, quality and shelf life of food, and not food safety. In other words, a best-before date that has passed does not make a food dangerous.
Which foods carry a real expiration date?
Very few. It is mandatory on formulated liquid diets, meal replacements, nutritional supplements, and infant formula along with foods containing it. Added to those, under controlled availability, are foods designed for a very low-energy diet and human milk fortifiers. For those products, the date genuinely matters. Almost nothing else in an ordinary grocery basket carries one.
Can you eat a food after its best-before date?
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is explicit: it is not against the law to sell food after the best-before date, and you can buy and eat food whose best-before date has passed. It notes that an unopened product, stored according to the instructions on the packaging, can still be eaten several days, even weeks, after that date. What can change is freshness, flavour, nutritional value and texture.
How do I know whether a food is still good?
By looking at it rather than at the date. The Agency recommends using your judgment: open the packaging and look for signs of spoilage, such as mould or an unpleasant smell. When in doubt, those signs decide, not the printed number.
Why do some foods have no date at all?
Because not all foods are required to carry one, fresh fruit and vegetables, for example. The food industry may nonetheless choose to print one. A date on a package is therefore not always a legal obligation.
Does this really change anything on a grocery bill?
Yes, in two ways. What you throw out, you paid for: every item that goes in the bin is money already spent. And shops often cut the price of products nearing their best-before date, products the Agency considers perfectly edible.
Read nextRelated articles
Sources
- Understanding the dates on your food labels, Canadian Food Inspection Agency (in French)
- Three facts about best-before dates that could save you money, CFIA (in French)
About this article. General and educational information, accurate as of the date shown. This is not food-safety advice: this article reports what the Canadian Food Inspection Agency publishes, it does not rule on any particular item. If in doubt about a product, do not eat it. People who are pregnant, very young, elderly or immunocompromised should be more cautious still and follow their health professional's advice.
Spotted an error or an out-of-date figure? Write to us: we will correct it and re-date the article. Our texts are written with the help of artificial intelligence and checked against official sources before publication, but an amount or a rule can change without us catching it. If anything here does not match what an official body tells you, they are right.