{"id":2608,"date":"2025-06-22T17:09:26","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:09:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/?p=2608"},"modified":"2025-06-22T17:09:26","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T17:09:26","slug":"understanding-food-expiration-dates-what-they-really-mean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/?p=2608","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Food Expiration Dates: What They Really Mean"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Have you ever eyed the date on your milk carton and debated whether to toss it? You\u2019re not alone. But here\u2019s the truth: those \u201cexpiration\u201d dates might not mean what you think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What Expiration Labels Really Mean<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The USDA clarifies that most food expiration dates don\u2019t indicate safety. Instead, they reflect peak quality. So, before throwing out that yogurt just one day past its date, pause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Big Three Labels:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Best if Used By<\/strong>: Suggests the date of peak flavor and quality.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Use By<\/strong>: Indicates the last day for optimal quality\u2014not safety.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sell By<\/strong>: Tells stores how long to display the product.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These terms often confuse shoppers and cause premature waste.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Have you ever eyed the date on your milk carton and debated whether to toss it? You\u2019re not alone. But here\u2019s the truth: those \u201cexpiration\u201d dates might&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":173,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2608"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2609,"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2608\/revisions\/2609"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nformed24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}