“Best before” dates refer to the quality and shelf life of an unopened food product, not safety. They tell you how long a product will retain its optimum flavour, texture and nutritional value when stored under normal conditions. In Canada, best before dates are required on foods that will keep fresh for 90 days or less. However, many foods show best before dates even though they aren’t required to do so.

Once you open a food, the best before date is no longer valid. For opened packages, manufacturers are required to provide storage instructions on the label when they differ from normal room temperature – for example, “refrigerate after opening” or “keep refrigerated.”

If you store foods properly, many fresh foods like eggs, milk and yogurt can be safely eaten soon after their best before dates have expired. Many packaged foods such as crackers, cookies, canned soup and tinned tuna can be eaten safely well long after the best before date. That doesn’t mean these foods will taste as fresh, however. They may have lost some of their flavour and their texture may have changed. Think of best before dates as suggestions about how long food will retain its freshness.

Although canned and packaged foods have a much longer shelf life than fresh foods, keep in mind they can lose anywhere from 5 to 20 per cent of their nutritional content every year. Be sure to store canned foods in a cool, dry, dark cupboard.

“Packaged on” dates are different than best before dates. Mandatory for meat and poultry, these dates tell you the day the fresh food was packaged in the store. The “packaged on date” is usually the starting point for how long you can expect the food to stay safe to eat.