When you’re cleaning out your fridge and scanning the “use by” dates on things, it can be tough to decide which foods to toss. Your Greek yogurt is a couple days past its expiration date, but still looks and tastes OK. Should you really toss the entire carton? In this economy? After all, groceries are 10 percent more expensive than they were last year and about 30 to 40 percent of the U.S. food chain goes to waste.
“Generally speaking, expiration dates in the U.S. don’t mean a lot,” says Laurie Beyranevand, the director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School. “What’s even more confusing is that they’re written in a few different ways on a product label.”
You might see some labels that use a “best before” date while others go with a “sell by” date. Typically, the labels signal the date that manufacturers think the quality of the food may no longer be at its peak, but they don’t usually address a product’s safety, Beyranevand says. The expiration dates on food items are often conservative, too, says food safety attorney Jory Lange. As a result, we end up throwing away a lot of safe food out of fear that it’s rotten.
As long as you’re storing your groceries properly, you can still eat or use most foods after their expiration dates, says Janilyn Hutchings, a Certified Professional in Food Safety (CP-FS) who works for StateFoodSafety as a food scientist. “Better indicators for whether food has gone bad are ‘off’ smells, textures, and flavors,” she says.
Keeping all that intel in mind, ahead are 13 foods that do not fare well after their expiration dates, according to experts.
Infant Formula
Federal law doesn’t require food manufacturers to provide expiration dates, except when it comes to infant formula, says Hutchings. After the expiration date, the amount of nutrients in the formula may start to decrease, she says, which is problematic because the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) requires that the quantity of nutrients in the formula matches what’s listed on the label. The concern here has less to do with food safety, and more with making sure infants aren’t facing nutrient deficiencies.
Meats
While ground beef, steak, and chicken can still be safe to eat after the use-by date, be extra cautious and look for signs of spoilage like odor, discoloring, and mold, Hutchings says.
You can also test some meat, like chicken, with the fingerprint test.
“If you press down on the chicken and it bounces back, it's still good,” Hutchings says. “If the imprint of your finger stays, it's likely not good and should be thrown away.”
Eggs
Eggs have become super expensive, so tossing even one feels wasteful. While eggs might be safe to eat after their use-by date, you should be extra careful, Hutchings says.
To eliminate the guesswork, she recommends giving eggs the float test. Take a large cup or bowl and fill it with water. Drop the egg in to see if it sinks, stands up, or floats.
“As eggs age, the air cell in the egg gets bigger,” Hutchings says. “If they sink, they are fresh and fine to eat. If they stand up, they are older but still okay to eat. If the egg floats, it is likely old.”
A spoiled egg will also have an odor when you crack it open, according to FSIS. Eggs can carry salmonella, a bacteria that can make you sick. Your best bet is to store eggs in their original carton and eat them within three weeks, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
Soft Cheeses
If you spot mold on a block of cheddar, you can usually cut it off and enjoy the rest of your cheese. But cream cheese, ricotta, and cottage cheese are a different story. When mold gets on soft cheeses (and crumbled ones, too) its threads can permeate the cheese, so the contamination goes beyond what you can see with your naked eye. Harmful bacteria like listeria, brucella, salmonella and E. coli can grow with the mold, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Deli Meat
Moisture combined with a lack of salt speeds up spoilage in foods like deli meats while dry foods such as rice and pasta enjoy longer shelf lives, says Lange.
“We wouldn’t recommend eating high-moisture, low-salt items past their expiration dates because of bacteria growth that can lead to food poisoning,” he says.
If your cold cuts smell sour or look slimy, it’s time to toss them.
Fiddleheads
You’re probably not frequently cooking with fiddleheads, an asparagus-like springtime delicacy. But something to keep in mind if you do plan to whip up a side dish with these green tightly coiled, Dr. Seuss-like ferns: They can emit toxins that make you sick if you eat them past their expiration dates, Lange says.
Strawberries
One of the biggest bummers of summer is opening your fridge to find that your strawberries are wearing a furry white coat. Since mold spores are airborne, there’s a good chance your entire package of strawberries is contaminated and should be tossed, according to the Cleveland Clinic. After all, some molds can make you sick or cause allergic reactions, so it's best to err on the side of safety on this one. If you start to notice your fruit is reaching its expiration date, pop it in the freezer to extend the shelf life and use the berries later on in smoothies or cooked desserts, says Norah Clark, a professional chef.
Ground Spices
While it’s not a food-safety concern, using spices past their prime can mean your meals aren’t as flavorful as they should be, Clark says.
“Some spices that lose flavor after expiration include ground cinnamon, paprika, and ground cumin,” she says.
Clark recommends storing your spices in airtight containers away from heat and direct sunlight to keep them in their most flavorful state.
Restaurant Leftovers
Sure, there’s no stamped expiration date on the container you take home from a restaurant. But, if you go out to eat over the weekend and pack your restaurant leftovers for a mid-week lunch, you could make yourself sick.
Since restaurant leftovers are at room temperature for a period of time while you drive back home, bacteria can grow on it and multiply, says dietitian Hannah Byrne, MS, RDN.
“While refrigeration can slow down the bacterial growth, it doesn't stop it completely,” she says. “Plus, some restaurant leftovers have a variety of different food groups in them and they all have different expiration dates on them, so for safety it’s best to consume them within three to four days.”
The taste and texture also changes with leftovers, Byrne says, as they tend to become dry and lose their flavors.
Raw Fish
If you pick up raw fish from your local store, you should first make sure it’s being stored on a bed of ice that’s not melting. If it’s dry or mushy, it’s probably old, and not safe to eat. Once you get it home, seafood should be stored in your fridge for just one or two days before you cook it or move it to the freezer, according to U.S. Food and Drug guidelines. If seafood spoils, you’ll smell sour, fishy, or ammonia odors, which become stronger after cooking, and food safety officials recommend tossing the food.
Leafy Greens
You may have had great intentions when you bought that big bag of spinach. But if it’s taking you longer than expected to plow through the greens, keep a close eye on the expiration date. Green leafy vegetables like spinach and kale will have a bitter taste after they expire, says Byrne, and making a salad with the expired greens puts you at risk of developing a foodborne illness. If your greens are nearing expiration, use some up in a green smoothie recipe.
Nuts
Because nuts are so high in unsaturated fats, they tend to go rancid quickly, says dietitian Kelsey Kunik, RDN and nutrition advisor for Zenmaster Wellness. Most nuts, she says, will last around four to six months at room temperature when stored in an airtight container in a dark place.
“But when the oils oxidize, the nut produces a bitter or sour taste, letting you know it's gone rancid,” Kunik says. “While it's safe to eat nuts that have gone bad in small amounts, you won't want to because of the bad taste.”
Cooking Oils
The shelf life of cooking oil is typically a year if it's sitting on the shelf unopened. It's approximately six months once it's open, says dietitian Tracee Yablon-Brenner, R.D., with Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck, New Jersey. She recommends storing cooking oils in dark glass away from light and heat. If it tastes bitter, it’s rancid and should be thrown away, Yablon-Brenner says.
Also, unprocessed oils like extra virgin olive oil lose their beneficial polyphenols as they age, Kunik says, and the flavor can become altered as well.
