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Proper food storage will keep your food both fresher and safer. Most store-bought food today comes with certain guidelines to help you ensure that you are eating high quality, safe food.

Make sure that you know what the guidelines on your packaging mean:

Expiration Date - You should not consume any product after this date - it is when you should expect the food to go bad. Of course, realize that the date is relatively arbitrary - there is a chance that the food is just fine after this date. Nonetheless, to insure freshness and safety, you should throw out products that have passed the expiration date.

Use-By-Date - This is the last day that your product is considered fresh and top quality. Again, it does not mean that the food product suddenly rots or molds after this date. It is just a good guideline to follow.

Sell-By-Date - You can still consume products after this date. It is just the date that it is recommended that the store sells it by. You do not want to buy any products that are being sold after the sell-by-date, and you might want to inform the storekeeper if you find any (you might even be able to get a good deal on anything that is past the sell-by-date… if it is just a few days past, it is most likely still just fine). The sell-by-date is often on baked goods like breads.

Pack Date - This tells you when the food was processed. This date does not tell you how long the food will be good!

Also, different manufacturers stamp different codes on the bottoms of their cans or on their packages. Some are very understandable, and other ones are not. Because they all tend to use different codes, the codes can be tricky to learn. If you are curious about a certain product, call the manufacturer! Most manufacturers have a toll-free number printed on their product.

Also, realize that the guidelines are not always completely accurate. There is a chance that your milk will taste bad long before the sell-by date. If you buy bread that has a tear in the packaging, it very likely might be stale when you buy it, too. Do not buy any food with packaging that has been damaged in any way - ripped, broken, dented, etc.

If any food product that you buy changes in color, taste, or smell, it is time to discard it, regardless of the manufacturer’s recommended sell-by date, etc. Also, be aware that once you open a product, the date of lasting freshness may change - while it might have a shelf-life of over a year, once opened, it may only last for 2 weeks.

So, as you may have been able to tell by this article, the dates printed on food products mean different things, but none of them are exact days of when your food will be bad. They are simply guidelines. If you are worried that a certain food has gone bad, don’t hesitate to throw it out. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Also, the validity of the dates on the food products depends on whether or not you are storing your food properly. Food that is not stored properly may go bad long before the recommended use-by-date.

Anne Clarke writes numerous articles for websites on gardening, parenting, fashion, and home decor. Her background includes teaching and gardening. For more of her articles on food storage, please visit USA Food Storage.

Tags: expiration date, food storage, pack date, packaging codes, packing date, sell by date, use by dateexpiration date, food storage, pack date, packaging codes, packing date, sell by date, use by date

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Storing Food

Your Refrigerator:

It is many years since schools stopped teaching cooking and domestic science and the result is that few people in the below 35 age bracket are familiar with risks presented by refrigerators. This article is aimed at covering a few basic rules that will help us store food in a safe and hygienic manner.

The average refrigerator operates between 35F (2C) and 44F (7C), which is low enough to stop microorganisms from forming. (Microorganisms include bacteria and mould.) It is NOT cold enough to destroy microorganisms already present in the food; it is up to you to ensure the freshness of food that you buy. The fresher it is the less likely it is contaminated. Therefore you should buy fresh and get it into a fridge as soon as humanly possible.

One of the major problems I see with refrigerators is that the door seal isn’t sealing properly. This places a heavier than normal load on the motor and causes burnout before the expected life span. Also it stops the refrigerator from maintaining optimum performance. The cost of replacing a door seal for a refrigerator or freezer is reasonably cheap and should be done at least once every 3 years. This will:

- Extend the life of the machine.

- Keep your food safer by maintaining constant temperature.

- Save on electricity bills.

There are also a few other rules that constitute sensible use of refrigeration that are basically common sense practices and adhesion to these rules will enhance all of the above benefits.

- Do not open the door unless you know exactly what you wish to take out. Opening the door allows warm air into the storage area and this affects the electricity used and the food stored inside. Leaving the door open destroys what the machine has worked for hours to achieve.

- Cover all food before you put it into the refrigerator and I go against common trends by covering with aluminum foil rather than cling film. Foil excludes light and light is an enemy of food. Food exposed to light deteriorates quicker than food that is protected from light.

- I never advise placing warm or hot dishes into a refrigerator despite claims by various makers that it is safe to do so. It is better to cover the food and allow it to cool before placing into the refrigerator. Hot dishes placed into the fridge cause frosting within the machine and this forms an unwanted insulation layer over the contents.

- Raw food such as meat and fish should be covered and placed in the coolest section, normally the top section. If they are uncovered they can pass their flavor to other foods such as cheese or butter.

- Cooked meat and other cooked foods should go in the middle section.

- Vegetables and fruits into the specially designed crispers.

These basic rules will help you produce better meals because the food you use will be at its best.

This article is copyright © David McCarthy 2006 and may only be reproduced in its entirety without additions.

About The Author
David McCarthy is a avid article writer and all articles suppport his website at http://www.recipesmania.com/ a site devoted to freely sharing knowledge about all things food, health and diet. The site features recipes for all occasions.

Tags: food, food storage, storing foodfood, food storage, storing food

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