Understanding food labelling
Best before and use-by dates
Most prepacked foods must show either a use‑by date or a best before date.
Use-by dates relate to the safety of food, whereas best before dates relate to quality.
Manufacturers decide whether to apply a use-by date or a best before date on their products. This depends on the type of food and how likely it is to become unsafe to eat over time.
Check the food label to see if it has a use-by or best before date.
This guide is also available in Welsh (Cymraeg).
Use-by dates
Use-by dates on food labels tell you when the food is no longer safe to eat. They must be shown on foods that go off quickly, such as meat products and ready-to-eat salads.
Eating food after the use-by date could make you ill.
The label will tell you how to properly store the food until you want to eat it, including what to do after you open the packaging. For example, if the instructions on the packaging tell you to refrigerate the food after opening it, you should keep it in a fridge at 5°C or below.
If you do not store food properly, it could become unsafe to eat before the use-by date.
When you can eat food after the use-by date
You can eat food after the use-by date if it was cooked or frozen on or before the use-by date.
If you cook food before the use-by date, you should then cool it and keep it in the fridge. You must then eat it within 48 hours or freeze it to eat at a later date.
If you freeze food before the use-by date, it will not deteriorate as bacteria cannot grow on frozen food. You should keep your freezer at -18°C and follow the freezing and defrosting instructions on the label. You should also label the food so you know what it is and when it was frozen.
Once the food has been defrosted, you need to use it within 24 hours.
Best before dates
Some foods reduce in quality over time. The best before date, also sometimes shown as ‘best before end’ (BBE), tells you when the food might start to reduce in quality. Best before dates should appear on products such as:
- frozen foods (for example peas, chips and ice cream)
- dried foods (for example pasta and rice)
- tinned foods (for example baked beans and canned tomatoes)
- cheese
After the best before date, the food is usually safe to eat but may not be of the same quality.
The label tells you how to properly store the food until you want to eat it.
If you do not store food properly, it could reduce in quality before the best before date.
After the best before date, you can use sight, taste or smell to decide whether you should eat something - for example, by:
- looking for visible mould on bread
- tasting biscuits or crisps to see if they are stale
- smelling some dairy products to see if they have soured