There seems to be some confusion about labels on food. So just to be clear: Use By means......use by; and Best Before means....best before. As I've blogged before, the Use By is the important one to ensure your food is safe to eat, whereas Best Before is simply about quality.
You may have seen Clarissa Dickson Wright's article in the Daily Mail. In it she claims that use-by dates are not there to save us from food poisoning and are just a marketing scam. Absolute rubbish. If food is past its use-by date, it could end up making you seriously ill or worse. Smelling food isn't enough, you can't smell salmonella, E.coli and listeria - all potential killers. Food safety is a serious business and Clarissa Dickson Wright shouldn't be so cavalier with other people's lives.
That's it for now – but do check our websites next week for more on this in Food Safety Week.