Best before date is misunderstood

Are foods still consumable after the expiration date??

10/26/2011

The Germans often prematurely dispose of foods with an expired date of minimum use (MDH), although the products would actually still be suitable for consumption. According to estimates by the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV), up to 20 million tons of food are thrown into the garbage each year.

In a recent media campaign, consumers are therefore encouraged to use food more carefully, and the date of best before date labeling is also being discussed. As a possible alternative, a distinction comparable to the British model in which the date with „Best before“ is specified. In the opinion of the experts, consumers interpret the term „Best before date“ often wrong.

Misinterpretation of the best before date
After the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection had already reported in May on the frightening amounts of food that are thrown away every year, a survey conducted by the Forsa Institute on behalf of the Federal Consumer Protection Ministry shows that 58 percent of Germans dispose of food on a regular basis. For 84 percent of them, an expired "best before" date is the reason for throwing away food. Because most of the respondents were convinced that food is bad as soon as the BBC has been exceeded. An interpretation that goes beyond the original approach of the MHD, completely. The date of minimum durability stipulated since 1984 in the food labeling ordinance is rather intended as a kind of quality seal that should guarantee product quality by the specified date. As an example, the food expert Petra Teitscheid of the Münster University of Applied Sciences mentioned to the „South German newspaper“ Mineral water in plastic bottles, where the manufacturer until the MHD „guarantees that the carbon dioxide stays in it for so long“ - but what „no impact on health at all“ have.

Check the food thoroughly after the expiry date
Although also from the ranks of the policy voices are loud, which are for a abolishment of the MHD with simultaneous introduction of a replacement after the British model of the marking „Best before“ plead, the Federal Consumer Protection Ministry is committed to maintaining the MHD. The best-before date is an established tool that has been proven for years, the ministry said. To limit the MHD-related food waste, according to the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, only an improved education of manufacturers, consumers and trade is required. In contrast to the consumption date, which is to be found as the actual expiry date on perishable products such as meat or fish, the best before date must again be understood as a seal of quality and important guidance, said the Federal Minister of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Ilse Aigner. Although thorough food testing is appropriate after the expiry date of the MHD, consumers should rely more on their own senses, according to the minister. On the basis of appearance, smell and taste it can usually be clearly determined whether a product has expired or not, emphasized Aigner.

Food trade advocates maintaining the best before date
The Federal Association of the German food trade (BVL) pleads for a retention of the BBD and said that this is better than his reputation. Thus, the BVL assumes that the majority of Germans does not understand the best before expiry date, but as a request to check the products thoroughly after the printed date on their enjoyability. An improved education brings here much more advantages than the introduction of a new name, so the assessment of the BVL. Because with each new formulation, the consumers must first learn how to handle, stressed the BVL CEO Franz-Martin Rausch. But not only the end consumers dispose of large quantities of food because of the expired date of minimum durability, even in the supermarkets, all goods are generally rejected with the expiry date exceeded. Some give these goods to social institutions shortly before the expiry date of the MHD, for example the so-called blackboards, but many simply throw the goods away, regardless of whether they are still edible or not. Therefore, providing information directed solely at consumers, as demanded by the BVL, would only do justice to one aspect of the problem. In the future, the sometimes unimportant MHD could increasingly be supplemented by technologies that allow a better assessment of the food condition. For example, the Baden-Württemberg company Bizerba relies on labels with special printing ink, which discolour the faster the more often the cold chain of the product is interrupted. The very general statement of the MHD could be with the help of the so-called TTI labels, which the „Cooling history of each individual packaging“ documenting, clearly concretizing, explained the Sales Director Labels and Consumables of Bizerba, Marc Büttgenbach.

Take care when eating expired fish, meat and salad
Regarding the consumption of food with expired MHD Brigitte Ahrens of the consumer center Lower Saxony in Hanover declared that special caution for example „sliced ​​salmon in foil and finely chopped salad wrapped in foil“ is required. The consumption of these products after reaching the best before date is not recommended. In addition, according to Ahrens, caution is also required with cut and packaged sausages. Dairy products such as fruit yoghurt and buttermilk, on the other hand, may still be consumed after the expiration date, despite the slight changes in taste that may be observed, the expert explained. In general, the best before date is usually related to specific characteristics of the food such as taste, odor or nutritional value and spoiled products are relatively easy to detect by taste and smell, so that the negative health consequences of eating expired foods tend to be the exception, the expert said consumer. (Fp)