You’re making a coffee and get a full carton of milk out of the fridge only to realize it’s past its expiration date. Do you risk it? It is a whole carton. What should you do? Here we explain what food and drink you should always throw out after its expiration and those it's perfectly fine to still eat.
The process of pasteurization gets rid of harmful bacteria in milk but bacteria can still grow, especially if the milk is kept out of the fridge too long. The "best before", "use before" or "sell by" dates on milk aren't much of a guide – if it starts to smell or taste sour, that's when to stop drinking it. A sip or two of sour milk, while disgusting, is unlikely to make you ill.
Mold is the only thing to check for when deciding if berries are safe or not (any date on the pack is immaterial). The USDA says to discard soft fruits once they have any mold growth as their high moisture content means they can be contaminated with bugs you can't see.
Homemade whipped cream should be eaten quickly, not because it could make you sick but because it will lose its texture and no longer be fresh. After being kept in the fridge for a day it will lose its form and become a runny liquid with little flavor. Unwhipped, heavy cream should last around 10 days in the fridge according to the USDA's FoodKeeper App.
Pre-made bagged salads may be pre-washed multiple times, but because they’re handled so frequently they are still prone to getting bacteria, which can include listeria, salmonella and E. coli at the very worst. If you're unlucky enough to have picked up a salad with these in, you can reduce the risk of the bacteria multiplying to levels that will make you ill by using the salad as soon as possible after opening and always throwing away leaves that are past their expiry.
The USDA's FoodKeeper App says one to two days is the maximum recommended time to keep raw chicken in the fridge before cooking. That said, in the USA there is currently no legal requirement for chicken to carry a sell by or use before date, stores may add one voluntarily. So if it smells and looks fine and isn't slimy, cooking chicken a little after the date on the packaging is usually OK, as long as you adhere to safe cooking times. Always take care when handling the chicken however, as elevated bacteria levels from the raw meat can still pose a risk of illness if they're spread around the fridge or onto kitchen surfaces.
Fish that isn't fresh or hasn't been subject to proper storage and handling can cause food poisoning. One to two days is the maximum amount of time fish should be kept in the fridge before cooking or freezing. Where the packaging suggests a use by date, stick to what it says.
Ground beef is much more likely to cause food poisoning than a lump of steak, as bacteria like E. coli, salmonella or staphylococcus aureus on the outside can get mixed all the way through when the beef is ground. Good refrigeration and consuming within one to two days will mean bacterial numbers don't get out of hand so do take note of the use by date. But most critical is cooking until no pink bits remain (as pictured).
The USDA's FoodKeeper App says live, fresh mussels can last a couple of days in the fridge. And there are some important rules to follow: don't put live mussels into airtight containers, discard any if their shells crack or break, and throw any that do not close when you tap them. During cooking the shells must open wide – discard any that do not.
Use before dates on spinach leaves are a good guide, but once they start to wilt, don't eat them uncooked. Wilted leaves are fine cooked, but once they are brown or slimy the rule is to not eat them at all. To prolong their lifespan spinach leaves should only be rinsed and dried just before they’re used.
Just as with ground beef, ground pork’s expiry date should be adhered to as it can be the perfect breeding ground for various types of bacteria if not eaten within its expiration. The USDA's FoodKeeper App recommends only keeping it in the fridge for one to two days before eating. It should be cooked until no pink bits remain (as pictured) and burgers made with ground pork should be cooked thoroughly to 160°F (71°C) to avoid food poisoning.
You can keep bread until you see any mold growing on the surface, but then it's time to throw it out. You may just be tempted to cut out the mold, but as bread is a porous food it may be contaminated below the surface with bacteria you can't see.
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As painful as it is to throw away something when you haven’t even opened it, especially when it’s pricey, you should always throw away raw, cold-pressed juices if they’ve expired. Fresh juices, including homemade, should only be consumed two to five days after they’ve been made. Raw, cold-pressed juices are unpasteurized and far more prone to contamination by bacteria and yeast.
The curled, edible shoots of the ostrich fern fiddleheads are a Canadian and US delicacy that can cause food poisoning if they’re not stored, prepared and cooked properly. The thoroughly washed fiddleheads can be refrigerated for up to a week, but it's essential to cook them well in boiling water, and not serve raw or undercooked.
As with mussels, oysters should be served as fresh as possible and be alive up until the moment they are shucked. At home don't be tempted to keep them longer than two days after purchase (unless you're freezing). Eating out? Ask to see the “shellfish tag”, which every restaurant or retailer is required to have for each bag of oysters that they purchase. If the date on the tag indicates they were harvested longer than a few days ago, avoid. Plus it's recommended that older people, pregnant women and very young children shouldn't eat raw or lightly cooked shellfish.
In one famous study, scientists opened a 40-year-old can of corn and found that the vegetable looked and smelled perfectly fresh, with nutrition values little changed. While really old cans are probably fine, a rule of thumb is not to stretch beyond 18 months for high-acid canned goods, like tomatoes and grapefruit, or five years for low-acid canned goods (pretty much everything else). Never eat from a can that’s bulging, badly dented or leaky.
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The USDA says these firmer vegetables can still be good even with a spot or two of mold on – as long as you cut at least one inch around and below the mold, keeping the knife out of the mold itself to prevent cross-contaminating other parts of the produce. The denser texture of these veggies makes it harder for mold to penetrate.
You can eat peanuts beyond the expiration date if they aren’t soft or rancid. But if there’s the slightest hint of mold, or if the peanuts are discolored, shriveled, or the shell is broken, throw them away. That’s because peanuts, especially those grown in Africa and Asia can harbor the fungus aspergillus flavus, which produces a toxin that causes liver cancer. Imported peanuts must pass inspections so you should be OK, but it still pays to be on the look out for substandard nuts and check the packaging for dates.
There are no expiry dates to go on with leftovers, but the USDA says leftover pizza slices are good for three to four days. That’s as long as you put the slices you can't manage in the fridge (covered) within two hours of them coming out of the oven.
Sliced salami, ham and other deli meats are good for three to five days after opening according to the USDA. Whole chorizo and salami can keep much longer if they aren’t cut into (any "best if used by" information on these is only a guide). Nor do you have to worry about white mold on the surface of salami – this is a traditional feature and nothing to worry about.
With hard cheese there’s little to worry about – the USDA says it can keep unopened in the fridge for six months and three to four weeks after unwrapping. Mold spots on hard cheeses like Cheddar aren’t able to penetrate far into the cheese – both the USDA and Food Standards Agency in the UK say you can cut out a mold spot and re-cover the cheese in fresh wrap.
Soft cheese is a prime breeding ground for listeria, so soft cheeses shouldn't be consumed beyond their use by date. Consume undated soft cheeses from the deli section within one to two weeks. Throw away any soft cheese that grows mold at any stage. This also applies to blue cheese and cheeses like brie with a white mold on the outside. The USDA says any mold that is not part of the manufacturing process can be dangerous.
Eggs will be safe if refrigerated (or kept constantly below 64°F/18°C) and cooked by the date on the pack. Up to 90% of British eggs are produced under the Lion Quality scheme, which means the chicken flocks are vaccinated, so salmonella in the eggs is no longer a problem. Have eggs that are out of date? Egg industry website egginfo.co.uk says the best before date can be ignored if the egg sinks to the bottom of a glass of water. However, if it floats, it's stale.