I always give the milk a sniff, but then I grew up on a dairy farm.

When it comes to milk, I do sniff it, but then I found that the top of the milk always smells funny even if I just bought it and it doesn't expire for another week (something about the dried up bit around the cap I suspect). I sniff after pouring into a glass and then give a little taste.

I think it's good to see the food as well as smell, in case there's mold or chunks that shouldn't be there.

I think it makes perfect sense to go by smell a lot of the time, but if there is something in there that's not just from expiration and you want to hold the company accountable, it'll be a bit trickier if you consumed the food after the expiration date...

It depends on what the food is.

Interestingly, it was that article that changed my stance. I'd always thought that expiration dates were carefully calculated and regulated, and that while there was always a little wiggle room (food is an organic thing, after all), they should be followed pretty rigidly. Then I learned that no, in fact, they're almost arbitrary - so now I go by sight/smell. (I never taste if I'm not sure, though; my sense of smell is pretty acute, and I don't want to risk getting something into my system that shouldn't be there.)

I grew up in a house where expiration dates were generally ignored (my mom still tries to put out mayonnaise that's months past the expiry.. gross!). But my husband's family is the type to go by the dates on the packages. So now in our house, we are a bit of a mix. We'll trust stuff for a few days past the date for most items, and do a sniff test here and there.

But one I will always throw out is meat. I mean I'll give it maybe 2 days, but that's it.

Oh and I've actually had milk go chunky before the expiration date, so just shows how reliable they are..

The expiration date is a "sell by" date. You ought to be able to use it safely for at least a few more days. No matter what the expiration date says, if the carton has been open for a week, it needs a sniff test. I pout a tiny bit in a glass and sniff, because as caliH noted, the opening itself can smell a little off (it's the most exposed to air, after all). That last scoop of yogurt one day past expiration? You're fine, unless you can see or smell that you're not.

Let's get terminology correct here: On milk, that date is NOT AN EXPIRATION DATE. It's a sell-by date. That means the grocery store has to get it off their shelves by that date, but you should still have a few days after that date for the milk to be good -- i.e. the date is the last date for the store to sell it to you and still give you reasonable time to consume it. It's not like you can use up a gallon of milk the same day you buy it. Seriously. Depending on how cold your fridge is and how much you do/don't leave milk out, it can last well past the sell-by date. I've had milk be perfectly fine as much as a week after the date stamped on it.

My experience is generally the same as AlisonCJ's. I've always been more concerned about not wasting food if it's still ok, but my partner's mom throws food out on the expiration date no matter what. (Sometimes she gives it to me, though, so win-win?)

Now, I use the smell test most often, but I'm sometimes alone in eating (perfectly fine!) food that's a few days past its date.

I always sniff, inspect, and taste, in that order. I had thought that the stamped dates were "sell by" for the *store's* stocking concerns - and working for a scratch-and-dent, just-barely-off-date food reclamation operation (taking dented cans, mislabeled tetrapacks, and yesterday's yogurt, tofu, etc. from shops to homeless shelters) affirmed this.

Also, isn't milk in NYC sold with a "NYC sell by" date that is like four days earlier than the other date? I don't know why that is, but I recall seeing it. And abiding by it, boy howdy: the milk here sours the morning of its stamped date, it seems - and that's by sniff AND taste :)

My cousin is absolutely staunchly convinced that the expiration date is the absolute last moment you can have the food. The way I talk her into not throwing out perfectly good food is to remind her that if she pours a glass of milk and it's chunky and smells, even if a week before the expiration date, she would absolutely throw it out, because common sense dictates that the date is basically useless compared to what's in front of you.

I generally go by how a food looks/smells to determine if it is still good to eat and otherwise ignore dates. I think the issue cuts both ways. Not only do I not want to throw away perfectly good food - I also don't want to complacently rely on arbitrary dates and use something that has actually gone bad, whatever date may say (I have definitely had bad milk that has not technically "expired" on several occasions). The only time I really deviate from this practice is when I am unfamiliar enough with a product that I am not sure that I will recognize the signs of deterioration.

You're confusing expiration date and sell by date. Sell by date (which is clearly shown in the photo at the top of this post but which you have mistaken for an expiration date) is the date for optimal freshness; after that, the product will probably start going downhill but it won't be unsafe for at least a week, if not longer. Most products are labeled as such these days to make clear the fact that the product isn't bad/unsafe after that date, but it's not going to be 100% quality.

As for milk, I pour a bit into a glass and then sniff and taste. The rim of the spout of the carton always smells a little funky because of the dried on milk there, so it's not a good gauge of freshness. I've had milk in my fridge for a week past the sell by date and it's perfect, and I've also had milk go bad a few days before. You just have to go with your gut on this. The worst that happens is that you have sour milk, but I have yet to hear of a case of anyone getting sick from milk consumed past its sell by date. It's the bagged greens you need to watch out for.

@Nora Rocket - NYC milk has an earlier sell by date because of the fact that the cold chain is broken multiple times when distributing to small stores and therefore deteriorates the product. When milk gets delivered to Target or Stop n Shop, it's taken off a cold truck and put directly into the store's cold storage, but when it gets delivered to bodegas, it goes to a mid-level distributor, and then to individual retailers, so you have the milk out of cold storage for more time, thereby increasing the potential for growth of organisms/product deterioration and hence the earlier sell by date.

Definitely use your brain and experience, not the numbers on the package.

Eggs and yogurt tend to last far, far longer than their dates, as well. I've used eggs a month past their date that were perfectly fine.

Both, whichever comes first--date or "off" smell--means it gets tossed.

Always the expiration date - My sense of smell is terrible. I can only pick up a few scents, and food going bad ins't one of them

Sniff. The date doesn't mean much.

sniff test but honestly, if anything, I've had milk start going bad on me before the sell-by-date. I very rarely have milk in my fridge that hasn't been consumed before the date marked.

We mostly ignore the sell by dates and look at the food itself. We had half a pint of organic cream left over from Thanksgiving that still looked and tasted good in January.

On the other hand, our milk seemed like it was going bad really quickly so we put our wireless thermometer in different spots in our fridge. The shelves on the door where we were storing our milk were a few degrees warmer than the back of the fridge. We now keep the milk in the back or middle of the fridge and it last much longer. The door now holds bottled juices, condiments, and bins of fruit.

In the UK we generally have three types of dates on foods. First is the "sell by" date, which is for shops to use. The other two are for the consumer and are either "use by" or "best before"... "Use by" dates are generally for things like milk and meat, things that will go "bad" after a certain amount of time. "Best before" dates are used on things like dried or tinned goods or spices, etc. Those dates just give you a general idea of when the food quality will start to deteriorate.

I generally check dates and then ignore them if my own judgment says the food is still good. I have never had food poisoning my entire life, thus far.

I've used eggs months past the expiration date. I use the sink or float test.

Take a bowl of cold water and place the raw egg (still in the shell) in it. If it floats, I don't eat it. If it sinks, it's good. I think it has something to do with a build up of gasses as it starts to go bad.

Since it is a Sell By date and not an Expiration Date, I use it as a general guideline. I sniff, then pour, then taste when it comes near to the date. Sometimes it's not as fresh tasting, but still fine to consume. Other times, it's turned. So I toss. Also, another way to use the date is to purchase the latest date available in the store, so you'll know you're getting the freshest carton.

Canada is like the UK, we have the Use By and Best Before labels to 'guide' us.

dairy is not an exact science. what did people do before expiration dates?

i always smell my milk before using it, no matter the expiration date. i'll throw it out a couple days past the date though.

however, on eggs, those dates on the cartons are so not useful. eggs can go a couple of weeks past any dates printed. at least in my family :)

Yeah, I've bought milk ON it's sell-by date (who can resist a $1 gallon of milk?) and over the week and a half it took me to drink it, it didn't even hint at going sour.

And with eggs, definitely used those months after the expiration date and I've never had a bad one.

What about jarred foods like baby food? I feel it is perfectly good to feed organic baby food past the expiration if it still looks, smells and tastes the same as last month. But some might feel that is criminal.

I like to buy organic milk for this reason - seems to have a MUCH longer shelf life!

I use a combo of the two with the predominant winner usually being the sniff and inspect test.

I work in a grocery store, so I have a few pointers.

- A sell-by date is a week before the technical expiration date.
- Even if meat has a sell-by date, be very cautious; meat doesn't take very long to expire and is fickle.
- If a piece of meat has been marked down for quick sale, that meat is still good, but MUST be eaten of frozen the same day. Be cautious with discounted meat and double check it's ok.
- For deli meats: Once a new package of meat has been opened (whether pre-packaged or from the deli), it's good for 5 days regardless of what the official expiration date is. Cheese is 2 weeks. Getting meat from the deli is usually pretty safe since most product gets rotated quickly, but do a sniff test in case you happen to get meat that expires that day.
- Some food products sit on the shelf for a long time because they're seldomly bought (think sesame paste and jarred mushrooms) so frequently expire without anyone noticing. For these weirder items, check the expiration date before buying it.
- For every hour that fruit and vegetables sit without refrigeration, it loses one day of shelf-life. If your fruit or veggies seem warm or the refrigeration isn't working very well, the freshness may be gone much faster.

Hmm, that's all I can think of for now :D

I don't even look at dates like 99% of the time. My grocery is in a pretty urban environment with lots of traffic so I feel pretty confident that stuff moves quickly and I trust it. Combine that with a tiny fridge means that we don't have that many dated items. Still, I do recall recently eating yogurt that was a couple weeks past the date — it tasted fine though!

The expiration date is pretty much meaningless, especially since you have no idea how the food was handled prior to your receiving it. We are all biologically equipped to detect spoilage, though it may take a little hard practice. :)

I've always taken expiration dates as a guideline. Ultimately, I believe if the company can get me to believe those dates are gospel, then they end up making more money. I trust my eyes and nose first and foremost. I use my water filters 50-75% longer than recommended and I keep eggs until they float in a glass of water.

I just had this debate three days ago, so I was compelled to share my experience.

I had a big tub of vanilla yogurt in the back of the fridge that had never been opened. The expiration date was December 16, 2010. I've done this before when I had eaten half the yogurt and let me tell you it wouldn't be a pretty sight. So, I hesitantly opened the yogurt for the first time and to my surprise the yogurt was all white and mold free. I took a sniff and it smelled fine as well. I then took a taste and it was delicious!

I used it quickly though because I was worried it would start decomposing after being exposed to the air (my own silly made up "scientific" theory). I used it in smoothies and it was great!

So in short, I'm pretty sold on the sniff test, at least when it comes to dairy.

I just poured out a quart of milk, Lucerne too, that smelled funny. It was a good 5 days before the date but it made my tea taste odd. I poured it into a glass and smelled and looked and tasted and decided that while it wasn't "bad" it certainly wasn't good.

Sometimes you just have to suck it up and waste food and money.

I tend to completely ignore expiration dates. It makes my boyfriend uneasy sometimes, but I've been at it for 10 years now and I've never gotten sick. You can tell when food's gone bad, it's no mystery. If your food is contaminated with salmonella or something equally dangerous, the expiration date is not going to protect you from that.

"It's not like you can use up a gallon of milk the same day you buy it."

Clearly, you haven't met my son. ;) Obviously, milk isn't an issue around our home but everything else we don't give much leeway to. A few days, sure but when in doubt we throw it out.

The blue fuzz growing on top of the half-used container of yoghurt can be a clue that it may be past its prime... I run this down the sink with some barely warm water - have read that these organisms are helpful for the flora in the septic tank - yum!

fooltheworld- I had three guy friends in high school who would each drink a gallon of milk every night at dinner. :P

I rely on the sniff test if I want to know if something is still good (and by sniff I mean, make my wife sniff; I'll vomit if I smell rotten milk). I rely on the expiration date if I want an excuse to throw something away that I really don't want to use.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I always throw it out if it's a day or two past the expiration date- even if it smells fine. I've experienced spoiled milk and gross!-- I'm not risking it again.

I'm taking a microbiology class and seriously, we're all just too paranoid about expiration dates in our fridge. We should be more concerned about door handles than expired yogurt (you should've seen the colony of bacteria and mold we got from a handle, the bottom of my shoe was cleaner).

Trust your nose, eyesight, and tastes. You just know when something is spoiling.

Former microbiologist here. Sell by and expiration dates are generally very conservative. You're better off using common sense, but remember that some types of food spoilage are not detectable by taste, smell, or sight but can be very dangerous - or at least very unpleasant. Botulinum (before the gasses build up making contamination obvious), Staph aureus, Salmonella for example. I use the following criteria:

1) Has the food been stored at the appropriate temperature?
2) Has the container been damaged in any way and/or has the food been handled in a way that might have contaminated it?
3) Does the food look and smell normal?
4) If this item is spoiled and I consume it, are the consequences more that I'm willing to tolerate?

If I answer no to any of the above, then out it goes.

Agreed with others on here- if its not a funny color, off smell or getting fuzz-covered...eat it. Your tummys are stronger than you give them credit!

How do i find the expiration date on homegrown produce? :)

OM83, organic milk is typically ultra-pasteurized, and that's usually why it lasts longer.

I'm not much of a follower of expiration dates. I always give it a sniff and a visual inspection before eating it. Unless it's something at work, there we're required to pitch it if it's "past date" because of health department regulations.

My husband is a big sniffer, regardless of whether the expiration date is approaching. I came from a family where if it had mold on it, you just scooped it off or ate around it. And if it was past the date, but smelled and tasted fine, you consumed it anyway. Perhaps that's why my husband gets sick all the time, and I get sick maybe once every few years.

I did discover a website a couple of years ago called http://stilltasty.com I've found it to be quite useful for figuring out guidelines and shelf-life for various foods. They go so far as to break it down based on whether the food was fresh or frozen, and open or unopened. And they give you tips on what to look for, and how to maximize freshness.

What about soy milk? Does it smell the same as regular milk when it's gone bad? I have a hard time using it up before it expires.

Sniff test. Soy Milk usually last for about two months from purchase. I still taste mine after the date it says.

A little from column a and a little from column b.

I won't usually buy a product on or after the sell-by date...but if it looks and smells ok...I'll consume it. My mother is a notorious condiment hoarder and I am pretty sure she is still serving mayo from a container she opened in 2007...no reported poisonings as of yet...in fact, I'd say my family is pretty digestively-gifted.

i use my own judgment, which frequently clashes with the dates on the item : )

i also am not much of a milk drinker, but i can extend its shelf life by days (if not weeks) by adding a few drops of peroxide--the same stuff in your medicine cabinet used to clean out cuts--when the carton is opened. the peroxide won't harm you, and this method is used in developing countries to keep milk fresh longer.

Yoghurt is something that I've found can often be used up to a couple of weeks after its date, although that's for plain Greek yoghurt – I don't know about those processed things with gums and flavourings and all sorts of additive stuff in them, possibly they're not as hardy. When my yoghurt starts to smell a little sourer than it's meant to, I just use it in a curry, and make sure that the sauce hits boiling at some point.

Eggs can absolutely, without question, be used months after the date, although again, that's for just basic EGGS: round things that come out of a chicken that lives a proper chicken life, and then packed straight in the carton. I read a while ago on The Kitchn that in the US all eggs are washed and disinfected so heavily that they lose their protective coating that is the natural preservative, so the shelf-life is much shorter than it should be.

To be honest I am quite astounded at these people who unequivically would not use something past the use-by date (dcirene and goosebucket I'm looking at you). You must really have no awareness of the massive trails of unnecessary foodwaste you leave in your wakes, otherwise you wouldn't act like this... right??

Can't believe nobody has brought up the Seinfeld bit where he talks about milk expiring! How do they know that is the EXACT DAY?! Does the cow tip them off?..."July 3rd"...farmer nods. haha~

i used to work in an office where some of the women would bring in their about-to-expire yogurts to share because they were afraid of... i don't know? explosions? radioactivity? who the hell knows, it's yogurt! it's "off" by design!

then i'd watch them microwave chemical-laden dinners and eat that. if i had my choice, i'd always eat expired yogurt and never touch a plastic microwave dinner.

i'm not a fan of food paranoia, as my often irate comments prove, and i do wish people would use their common sense. also, to quote a brilliant poster from another thread, "grow an immune system already!"

My hubby and I joke all the time about how you're supposed to tell if the sour cream has soured... ;)

We are definitely a "sniff test" kind of family. The only thing I'm a little cautious of is cooked food - if I've got leftovers in the fridge and they still look and smell OK, but they've been there longer than 4-5 days, I usually toss them - you just never know when you've combined a bunch of ingredients and they've been exposed to the air for any length of time.

I've certainly been known to cut around the mold on cheese and bread though (you know how they make cheese, right? It's basically ALL mold)...

I didn't know the egg floating trick, I've always had to crack one to find out if they're OK - will definitely be using that one!!

I agree with the poster who said that the types of bacteria in food that will make you sick, are not affected by how long it has been sealed in your fridge, but by what it has been exposed to. I've never had food poisoning, and I've eaten mayonnaise that was expired AND sat on the counter overnight. I try to think about how they eat in developing countries (has anyone been to Cuba?) and remember that our digestive systems will handle as much as we allow them to - and for a normal healthy adult, the worst you can expect is a little bit of discomfort. Bad milk is NOT going to kill you! :)