Sell By Date vs Expiration Date: What Each Label Actually Means
Most people have thrown away food that was still perfectly safe to eat. Date labels are the most common reason. The phrase printed on the package -- sell by, best by, use by, expires on -- looks like a safety instruction. In most cases it is not. Understanding what each label actually means can reduce unnecessary food waste and save money at the grocery store.
What Each Date Label Means
| Label | Who It Is For | What It Indicates |
|---|---|---|
| Sell by | Retailer | How long to display the product for sale. Not a safety date for consumers. |
| Best by / Best if used by | Consumer | When the product will be at peak quality. Not a safety cutoff. |
| Use by | Consumer | Last date for peak quality; the closest label to a safety indicator on most products. |
| Freeze by | Consumer | Recommended date to freeze for best quality. Not a safety date. |
| Expires on | Consumer | True safety cutoff. Rare on food; common on infant formula and medications. |
Sell By Date: A Retail Inventory Tool
The sell by date is an instruction from the manufacturer to the retailer, not to the consumer. It tells the store how long to keep the product on display before pulling it from the shelf. It has nothing to do with when the food becomes unsafe to eat.
When a product passes its sell by date, the retailer may discount it, pull it from the shelf, or in some cases donate it. For the consumer who already has the product at home, the sell by date is largely irrelevant. What matters is proper storage and the actual condition of the food.
Best By Date: A Quality Indicator
The best by or best if used by date is the manufacturer's estimate of when the product will be at its highest quality -- optimal flavor, texture, and freshness. After this date, quality may decline gradually but the product is not automatically unsafe.
Shelf-stable products such as canned goods, dried pasta, crackers, and cereals often remain safe and palatable well beyond their best by dates when stored properly. Refrigerated products decline more quickly. Use your senses: if the product looks, smells, and tastes normal, it is generally safe to consume.
Use By Date: The Closest Label to a Safety Date
The use by date carries the most weight of any food date label. For perishable products, it represents the manufacturer's last recommended date for consuming the product at peak quality and, for high-risk items, within a reasonable safety margin.
Infant formula is the only product category for which the FDA treats the use by date as a strict safety cutoff. For most other products, use by is still primarily a quality indicator, though it deserves more caution than a best by date -- particularly for refrigerated proteins, dairy, and prepared foods.
How Date Label Confusion Drives Food Waste
The practical consequence of misreading date labels is significant. When consumers treat sell by and best by dates as safety expiration dates, they discard food that is still safe and good quality. Research cited by the FDA estimates that date label confusion contributes substantially to the roughly 80 million tons of food wasted in the United States each year.
The same confusion plays out at the retail level. Products approaching sell by dates are marked down, pulled from shelves, or redirected -- not because the food has become unsafe, but because the date label triggers removal. That near-expiration inventory represents edible, nutritious food that leaves the retail system while food-insecure households with limited food budgets have no reliable way to access it at a discount.
The r4 Smart Food Program addresses this gap directly. Using predictive AI, it identifies surplus inventory at retail locations before it reaches sell by dates, generates real-time discounts, and delivers those discounts to food-insecure households through the Smart Shopper app. Food that would otherwise be discarded or donated reaches households that need it most, at prices that make nutritious eating genuinely affordable. For more on how date label confusion fits into the broader food waste problem, see our article on how to reduce food waste.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between sell by and expiration date?
A sell by date is an instruction to the retailer indicating how long to display the product for sale. It is not a safety date for consumers. An expiration date indicates when a product is no longer safe or effective to consume. True expiration dates are rare on food products and most commonly appear on infant formula and medications. Most food date labels are quality indicators, not safety cutoffs.
Is it safe to eat food after the sell by date?
In most cases, yes. Sell by dates are inventory management tools for retailers, not safety instructions for consumers. The USDA advises that most foods remain safe after the sell by date as long as they have been stored correctly and show no signs of spoilage. Perishable proteins such as ground beef and poultry should be used within one to two days of purchase regardless of the sell by date.
What does best by date mean?
A best by date indicates when a product is expected to be at peak quality in terms of taste, texture, and freshness. It is not a safety date. Food consumed after its best by date may have diminished quality but is not necessarily unsafe. Best by dates are the most common type of date label on shelf-stable packaged foods.
What does use by date mean?
A use by date is the most meaningful safety-related date label on food products. It indicates the last date recommended for peak quality and, for perishable items, carries the closest thing to a safety implication of any standard food label. Infant formula is the only product for which the FDA considers the use by date a strict safety cutoff.
How does date label confusion contribute to food waste?
Date label confusion is one of the most significant drivers of household food waste in the United States. Consumers who interpret sell by and best by dates as safety expiration dates discard food that is still safe and good quality. Standardizing date labels and improving consumer understanding are among the highest-impact low-cost interventions available for reducing household food waste.
Near sell-by doesn't mean near worthless.
The r4 Smart Food Program uses predictive AI to turn near-sell-by surplus inventory into real-time discounts for food-insecure households, delivering nutritious food at up to 80 percent below retail price before it leaves the shelf. Learn how the program works.