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    Home > Food News > Nutrition News > Why can I still eat food that has passed the expiration date?

    Why can I still eat food that has passed the expiration date?

    • Last Update: 2021-07-30
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    Author: Zhong Kai
     
    Buying food in supermarkets and online has long been a part of daily life.
    What information do you look at on the packaging when you buy? If I’m not mistaken, the most common ones should be the production date and shelf life, right?
     
    Now that "you can't sell after the expiration date" and "don't eat after the expiration date" have become common sense.
    However, I believe that many people's expired foods can still be eaten properly
    .
    Should we throw away expired food? Will there be a problem if I eat it? Does it count as food waste if thrown away?

     
    First of all, the expiration date is not a number that can be slapped on the head
    .
    The principle is to see through experiments whether food can maintain its safety and quality characteristics (such as color, aroma, taste, taste) and how long it can be maintained in a simulated or real environment
    .
    Of course, some small companies may not do much experimentation, just copy a copy of similar products with the same technology and the same packaging
    .
     
    More than a decade ago, food packaging may have several dates, including shelf life, best use date, and shelf life
    .
    Now you can see similar labels in foreign supermarkets, such as "Best before" and "Used by" in Europe and America, and "Best Appreciation Period" in Japan
    .
     
    According to the food safety standards of the year (screenshots at the end of the article):

    Shelf life = Best before date = Best before date,

    Shelf life = Recommended last date 

     
    The national standards of the year made it clearer for the "shelf life" that "food beyond the shelf life can still be eaten within a certain period of time", such as precipitation of beverages, agglomeration of yogurt and so on
    .
    These quality characteristics may affect the perception, but they will not hinder food safety and nutrition will not change much.
    Therefore, this identification method is actually quite scientific
    .
     
    Even if it is the "storage period", the description of the national standard is "After this date, the food may no longer have the quality characteristics expected by consumers and should not be consumed anymore"
    .
    In other words, maybe you can still eat it
    .
     
    However, the market feedback later was that many people felt that several dates were piled up there, with the shelf life for a while and the shelf life for a while, and they didn't understand what they meant
    .
    So when the national standard was revised, it became the current single marking method of "production date + shelf life"
    .
     
    The current food shelf life and the food shelf life of the year are actually the same concept.
    Many companies label them as the "best before date" in actual operation.
    Therefore, even if it has been "expired" for a period of time, it will taste no problem at all
    .
     
    However, since there is no "storage period", it is difficult to say whether there are foods whose shelf life is marked according to the "storage period"
    .
    In addition, consumer education is simple, and often the concepts of shelf life and shelf life are confused, so "expired food cannot be eaten" is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people
    .
    Burning expired food has also become a political achievement in some places, and this is not only a waste of resources, but also brings environmental pressure
    .
     
    Against the background of food waste, more and more people are beginning to think about whether they can better deal with the relationship between food safety, food quality and food waste
    .
    Now that "provisional food" has been widely recognized by consumers, can "expired food" appear on the Taiga Hall in the future?

     
    Whether it's selling it openly or donating it to people in need through charitable organizations, only the best use of the material will not be in vain for the hardships that have gone from farmland to factory
    .
    Of course, we also have to start by ourselves and eat up all the expired food at home (except for spoiled ones)!
     
    Attachment: 2004 edition of the National Food Labeling Standard





     
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