Free food saving memo

As we say in the food saving memo above, when it comes to the different labels on food there are a few key points to remember:

Use-by dates:

• Mean exactly what they say - eating anything that's past its use-by date is risky, even if it looks and smells fine.
• This applies to perishable foods, like dairy, meat, fish and chilled meals.
• If something's past its use-by date, it's best to bin it.

Best-before dates:

• These usually don't have anything to do with safety - it's just the manufacturer's view of when food is no longer at its optimum quality.
• This applies to longer-lasting foods, like frozen meals, tins, sugar, pasta, breakfast cereals and dried lentils. (Though NOT eggs - see below).
• If something's past its best-before date, you don't necessarily need to chuck it - use its appearance and taste to decide. It might have lost some of its flavour or texture though.
• The further away the best-before date was when an item was bought (ie, the longer its shelf life), the longer it's likely to last after the best-before date's passed.

Display-until and sell-by dates:

• These are there to warn shop staff when to take a product off the shelves. They're not instructions for consumers (although you might be able to use them to get a discount).
• They typically apply to fresh produce.
• As a consumer, you can ignore these labels - check use-by and best-before dates instead.