sell-by date

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Related to sell-by date: shelf life

sell-by date

Public health
The date labelled on most foods in developed countries, especially dairy products, which is usually about 2 weeks from the day the milk was pasteurised, and about 1 week before it expires. An estimated 8 million tonnes of food are needlessly thrown away a year in the UK because of too-strict an adherence to sell-by dates, prompting government food bodies to switch to the phrase “best before” as a way of encouraging people to eat food that might otherwise be prematurely thrown away.

Vox populi-UK
A popular term applied a tedious person, stale witticism, or other thing which has past his, her or its prime, as in ‘that joke is way past its sell-by date”.

Mentioned in ?

expiration date

References in periodicals archive ?

When it comes to sell-by dates, I make a decision based on smell.

SMELL-BY DATE; Store chiefs use sniff test to check if food is off

Each package has a Sell-By date of May 13-July 2 and bears the establishment number EST.

Meat Recall Broadened To Encompass 468,000 Pounds Of Manda Packing Co Products

Do not eat Mauri Gorgonzola with sell-by dates of 01/13/11 and 01/14/11.

FDA: Lot of Mauri Gorgonzola cheese positive for E. coli O157:H7

Samantha Dorchell, for Middlesbrough Council, said food inspectors found two items on July 12 that had sell-by dates for July 11.

Old food costs pounds 1,135

Raw Beef Briskets with plant inspection #969 (EST #969) with sell-by dates between 5/12 and 6/20

H-E-B Issues Voluntary Recall For JBS Swift Beef Products

The watchdog yesterday warned butchers to be extra careful with their guidelines for sell-by dates.

Butchers are warned over dates; HEALTH

He added: "There is no need for a sell-by date on them.

IS NOTHING SACRED; Wafers red tape takes the biscuit

SHOP-BOUGHT SANDWICHES: Only risk one day past the sell-by date.

Your LIFE: Should you trust SELL-BY DATES? FOOD DOMESTIC GODDESS NIGELLA LAWSON HAS ADMITTED EATING FOOD PAST ITS SELL-BY DATE. SO ARE WE THROWING OUT PERFECTLY GOOD FOOD TOO HASTILY?

Trading standards officers who carried out inspections at the Kwik Save stores in Binley Road and Walsgrave Road in July last year+ identified items up to a week past their sell-by date, city magistrates heard yesterday.

Store chain in sell-by dates fine

SHOPPERS could be buying chicken past its sell-by date, it emerged yesterday.

FIRMS CON SHOPPERS WITH OLD CHICKENS; And it's legal, say experts

Darren Burleigh, defending, said the company took its responsibilities to its customers very seriously and had strict procedures in place to ensure, as far as possible, that food past its sell-by date was removed from the shelves.

Supermarket fined for selling out of date food

The recalled products are Columbus, Alpine and Pocino brands that were distributed pre-sliced in three pound packages that bore a sell-by date of May 7, 1995.