> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# The label says “best by” and I can’t tell if the food is safe
- URL: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/08170/
- Published: 2026-10-15T14:10:06.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-15T14:10:06.000Z
- Description: Filed: the 1970s · Patched · Voluntary “Best if Used By” labels
- Author: The Clerk
- Tags: Patched

*The yogurt is two days past the date and looks fine. I’m about to put it in my kid’s lunch.* — Parent, 2025

In 2022, NPR reported that Montana milk had to come off the shelf 12 days after it was pasteurized. Stores had to throw the full cartons in the garbage. Not down the drain, either. That’s against the rules too. Except for baby formula, no federal regulation says food needs a date at all. The closest thing to a fix is a recommended phrase, “Best if Used By,” and it speaks for quality, not safety. Somebody picked the number on your carton.

**For now**: look up the food in the USDA’s FoodKeeper app, which lists how long it keeps in the refrigerator, freezer and pantry.

### The full file

Date labels started as the store’s business, not yours. Manufacturers and retailers stamped symbols and number codes on food so they could rotate stock, and shoppers couldn’t read them. In the 1970s, plain dates began to spread across stores, for the people buying the food.

It helped less than anyone hoped. In a 2025 Harris Poll survey of 2,069 U.S. adults, an average of 87% said they knew what eight date labels meant. On a quiz about them, an average of 53% got them right.

The FDA has since asked food companies to use that phrase for dates that mark quality. The USDA adds that food with no signs of spoilage may still be eaten after the date. Washington asked nicely.

**Relates to** [No. 00450](https://www.thefrictionlog.com/00450/).