Date Labels, Decoded.
Four short phrases on the side of a pack — and only one of them is a safety line. Use by is about safety. Best before is about quality. Display until and sell by are for the shopkeeper. This reference decodes each one. Free. Open. No paywall.
UK households throw away around 6.4 million tonnes of food a year, and the leading reason is confusion over date labels (WRAP). Knowing what each phrase legally means is one of the simplest unlocks in food literacy — both for safety and for waste reduction.
Methodology · Sources · Caveats
Why this matters. Two phrases on UK food packaging are mandatory under retained EU law (Food Information Regulations 2014, Article 24/25): use by and best before. They mean different things. Mistaking one for the other costs households money on one side and creates avoidable food-poisoning risk on the other.
Use by — the safety line. Required for highly perishable food that becomes unsafe within a short period: cooked meat, fish, dairy, ready meals, fresh juice. After the use-by date, the food may not be safe to eat even if it looks and smells fine. Cooking does not make use-by-expired food safe (some bacteria produce toxins that survive cooking).
Best before — the quality line. Used for food where quality (texture, flavour, appearance) declines after the date but the food remains safe. Tinned, dried, frozen, ambient stable foods, biscuits, crisps, chocolate. Always check appearance, smell, and texture before eating, but a best-before date being passed is not a safety event.
Display until and sell by — supply-chain only. These are voluntary retailer codes. They tell shop staff when to rotate stock. They have no legal status as consumer information and the FSA explicitly recommends consumers ignore them. Many retailers have removed them to reduce confusion.
Sources. UK Food Standards Agency (FSA); Food Information Regulations 2014; WRAP (Waste & Resources Action Programme); Defra date-labelling guidance; Coeliac UK and Allergy UK on label reading.
Verdicts. Safety line — legally mandatory; the food may become unsafe after this date. Quality / freshness — the food remains safe but the manufacturer guarantees quality only up to this date. Not for shoppers — voluntary retailer codes that have no consumer meaning.
What this is not. Not medical advice. If a product looks, smells, or tastes wrong, do not eat it regardless of the date. Vulnerable groups (pregnant, immunocompromised, very young, very old) should be especially careful around perishable food.
Why this is free. Per SCANSMART's Belongs-to-Everyone Rule.
Sources
- UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) — date labelling guidance (use by, best before, display until)
- Food Information Regulations 2014 (UK) — mandatory date labelling rules (Articles 24, 25)
- WRAP — Love Food Hate Waste programme; UK food waste statistics (6.4m tonnes annually); date label confusion as primary driver
- Defra — date-labelling and food storage guidance for industry
- European Commission — original date-labelling framework retained in UK law post-Brexit
UK law on dates remains aligned with retained EU regulation as of May 2026. UK consultation on simplifying date labels (potentially removing best before from some categories) is ongoing.
Where this reference connects.
For deeper evidence-vault treatment connecting this reference to the SCANSMART analytical framework, see: Impulse Buying Triggers · Food Marketing to Kids · Brand vs Manufacturer · Reformulation Tracking · Cultural Food Myths · Global Staple Foods · Dietary Patterns · Carbohydrate Types · Caffeine and Health · Industry Funding Bias in Nutrition Research · UPF Brain & Cognitive Claims · Children’s Oral Health · Behaviour Change & Decision-Point Capture.
Reference-format consistency pass · 11 May 2026 · Stale-date reminder: re-check after FSA / WRAP date-labelling guidance updates (food-waste-reduction focus) · SCANSMART is a food literacy and decision-support platform. It is not a medical device and does not provide medical advice.