What the ‘use by’ date can tell you about safely storing your food

As the cost of buying groceries rise, more families seek strategies to cut waste and get the most out of the groceries they buy. According to the USDA, 30-to-40 percent of our food supply is thrown away. A lot of that waste may be due to consumers misinterpreting common food labels as “expiration dates”. Ellen Shumaker, Ph.D., director of NC State University’s “Safe Plates Program” said, “The vast majority of those are related to the quality of the food product rather than the safety.” Shumaker says “Sell By” labels are meant more as a guide for grocery store operators. “As a consumer, you should pay attention to those dates, but really more for maximizing the quality that you’re going to have at home,”