More Japanese firms extend food expiration dates to reduce waste

This would suggest they've been knowingly having us throw out perfectly good food and drinks all this time with unrealistically short expiration time periods.

I find that Costco food has quite short expiry dates, especially as foodstuffs are generally sold in bulk.

I hope they can work on this.

Food expiration and best before dates are extremely in the favour of the consumers.

The idea of "We want it Fresh and we want it Now" has seen it's use by date.

So much food here is safe and edible but picky customers just don't want to buy.

My local super and drugstore sees many customers reach to the back of refrigerated stored goods to get the "newest" product, when those in the front are still well within their best before dates. I always tsk, tsk them.

The industry has been too generous to customers for too long, and now a vigorous education program is required to tell folks that they are just adding to the "non-mottainai" attitude that is so prevalent.

Crazy waste.

I well remember times before there were no expiry dates on products. If you have a production date that should be enough. If the consumers can't work out when to use it by for themselves then they are mostly idiots.

So the japanese have been lying to us. OMG! the companies have been scamming us.

So the japanese have been lying to us. OMG! the companies have been scamming us.

It's the same in the U.S. People have known for years over there.

Expiration dates are a SCAM, it means NOTHING as long as you can heat it or cock it. Millions around the world are eating foods with NO EXPIRATION date what so ever.

If you can cook it then you can eat it except for certain meats, food makers use these dates to make you buy more and more and more thinking it's no good to eat after the expiration dated while they know damn well it is safe to eat well beyond that date.

"Expire date" means when the shops stop selling the items. Does not mean the products have rottened away.

I recently learned, that sometimes the expiration date has nothing to do with the content, but the container. The same sauce can have a one year expiration date in a plastic bottle, but a two year one in a glass bottle!

Dried goods can last for years. Many wet things in an airtight container can go way past the date, as in years, so long as they are unopened. Some jars have that concave lid that goes convex once you open it or air gets in. If the lid is still concave and sucked in, I'd assume that 2018 jar of pickles is still good to go. The only precaution would be trying one before bunging them in a burger.

The story is talking about processed food, but I hope this does not mean a reduced supply of discounted meat near expiry in the supermarket. This is something we like to buy.

Well done..

Shorter Expiration Dates = More Sales, it's that simple

Presumably they were set lower for a reason. Somebody is getting a worse experience at a minimum.

Day old Sushi still appetizing to some

Yrrl -- You are right, as long as it's cooked next day. Maguro especially.

expiration dates are the wild west. no government rules, but many countries mandate for baby formula and baby food.

most canned food shelf life is 1-5 years. big gap.

rice is 1-2 years.

most potatoes you buy have been stored for about year before sold.

meat can go bad before the date because refrigeration and packaging is not consistent.

aspirin has lost little potency after 5 years, according to tests.

your nose is a good detector - if it smell bad, don’t eat it.

Do you want to extend the life of your bread. Toast it good. Let it get cold so the steam is released. Then put it in ziplock bags and in the fridge. Or just freeze them. Bread in the table gets mold right away.

My partner lost her sense of smell. I do all the food sniffing to ensure it's fresh.

I don't know about the rest of you, but I find Japanese are slaves to best before dates. My family will chuck almost anything regardless of its condition if the date has gone over. I have to hide things or scratch of the date so we can continue to use it!

So these small companies know this and they prey on Japanese people's sense of food security, but they are only trying to enrich themselves.

I find that Costco food has quite short expiry dates, especially as foodstuffs are generally sold in bulk.

So with that I brought the strawberry cheesecake/pudding from Costco and it said it expired in 2 days, midnight when it just touched the 3rd day the strawberries started growing mold. If I wasn't already cautious to expiration dates I would have had regrets

I do all the food sniffing to ensure it's fresh

We don't need to "sniff" food to tell if it's fresh.

I had a Fray Bentos Kate & Sidney pie last week, 1 year after best before date, yes 1 year! It was lovely I really enjoyed it

Makers would love to put an expiration date on evrthing so they can sell more of it, even your shoes and jeans and underwear LOL if they could pull it off!!?

"" My partner lost her sense of smell. I do all the food sniffing to ensure it's fresh. ""

That's a good one, but even if it smells you just add spices and cook it, many restuarants does it.