Packaged food can carry best before, best if used by, use by, sell by, BBE or expires. Some of these dates are about safety, most are about quality, and the meaning depends on where you live.
Quick summary
- UK, EU, Australia and New Zealand: use by is about safety. Don’t eat food after its use-by date. Best before is about quality: food is usually still safe afterwards if it was stored properly.
- United States: apart from infant formula, date labels are voluntary and mostly about quality. Federal agencies recommend the wording Best if Used By.
- Sell by is a note for the shop about stock rotation, not a deadline for you.
- Every date assumes the pack is unopened and stored as the label says. Once it’s open, follow the “once opened, use within…” instructions instead.
The UK and the EU work from the same rulebook, Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, which the UK kept in its own law after Brexit. It sets up two kinds of date.
Use by. Article 24 requires this date on foods that are highly perishable from a microbiological point of view and could quickly become a danger to health. After the use-by date, the food is legally deemed unsafe. The UK government’s food labelling guidance lists meat products and ready-to-eat salads as typical examples, and warns that eating food after its use-by date could make you ill.
Best before (sometimes best before end, or BBE). This is the “date of minimum durability”: the point up to which the food keeps its expected quality. UK guidance gives frozen foods, dried pasta and rice, tinned foods and cheese as examples. After the date, food is usually safe but may not taste as good.
Two practical rules from the UK guidance:
Some foods don’t need a best-before date at all under the EU rules. Examples include whole fresh fruit and vegetables, wine and other drinks of 10% alcohol or more, vinegar, cooking salt and solid sugar.
The European Commission estimates that up to 10% of the roughly 88 million tonnes of food wasted in the EU each year is linked to date marking. It has long planned to revise the rules, but no formal proposal had been adopted when this guide was written, so the current system still applies.
The Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code (Standard 1.2.5) uses the same split. Food shouldn’t be eaten or sold after its use-by date. After the best-before date it may have lost some quality but is still safe to eat. Bread with a shelf life under seven days may carry a baked on or baked for date instead. Foods that keep for two years or more, such as some canned foods, don’t need a best-before date.
The US works quite differently. According to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), federal law doesn’t require date labels on food, except for infant formula. Manufacturers add dates voluntarily and choose the wording themselves. That’s why you see so many different phrases.
FSIS and the FDA both encourage manufacturers to use one phrase: Best if Used By. FSIS chose it because a national survey found that shoppers read it as a quality date rather than a safety deadline. Neither agency makes it compulsory.
Here’s how to read the common US phrases:
FSIS adds that if a date passes while the food is in your home, it should still be safe and wholesome as long as it was handled properly, until you see signs of spoilage. That doesn’t cover food left in the “danger zone” (40–140°F) for more than two hours, or anything that looks, smells or feels off.
One important contrast: a US “use by” date isn’t the same as a UK or EU “use by” date. On an American label it usually means quality; on a British or European label it means safety. If you shop in both places, or buy imported food, read the phrase and the product type together.
California is the first state to standardize date labels. Under AB 660, which took effect on July 1, 2026, food that shows a date must use BEST if Used by (or BEST if Used or Frozen by) for quality and USE by (or USE by or Freeze by) for safety. Consumer-facing sell by dates are banned on food made from that date on, although shops may still use coded dates for stock rotation. Eggs and infant formula are exempt.
At the federal level, the USDA and FDA asked for public input on date labeling in December 2024, and comments closed in March 2025. No national rule had been proposed when this guide was written.
If you’d like a reminder, Use-By: Expiry Tracker is a free iPhone app where you add an item by typing one line, such as Yogurt 4 pots 10/5/2026. It reminds you before the date and sends a weekly digest, and your household can share one list through iCloud. There’s no account and no ads.
More articles: Food storage and expiry guides.
General food safety information, not medical advice.
Updated: September 29, 2026