Use-By vs Best-Before Dates Explained

What Is the Difference Between Use-By and Best-Before? A use-by date is a safety limit — food must not be sold or eaten after it — while a best-before date is a quality guide, meaning the food may still be safe to eat after the date but may have declined in taste, texture or appearance. Both appear on packaged food in Australia under Standard 1.2.5 of the Food Standards Code, but they carry very different legal weight. Confusing the two either creates food-safety risk or drives unnecessary waste. This guide explains each marker, the rules that apply, and how commercial kitchens should handle them. Use-By: The Safety Marker A use-by date tells you the last day a food can be eaten safely, assuming it has been stored as directed. After that date the food may be unsafe even if it looks, smells and tastes normal, because harmful bacteria can be present without any obvious sign. For this reason it is illegal to sell food after its use-by date. Use-by dates appear on higher-risk, perishable foods, including: Fresh and cooked meat and poultry Ready-to-eat refrigerated foods such as sandwiches and pre-packaged salads Soft cheeses and many dairy products Chilled ready meals and deli items These foods are also temperature-sensitive. A use-by date only holds if the food stays out of the danger zone of 5°C to 60°C. Store them at 5°C or below, because time in the danger zone can make food unsafe before the printed date. Best-Before: The Quality Marker A best-before date indicates when a food is at its best quality. After the date the food may still be perfectly safe to eat, but its flavour, texture, colour or nutritional value may have started to decline. Food past its best-before date can legally be sold, provided it is still fit for sale and not damaged or deteriorated. Best-before dates appear on shelf-stable, lower-risk foods such as: Canned and jarred goods Biscuits, crackers and cereals Dried pasta, rice and flour Frozen foods The one exception worth noting is bread, which may be labelled with a "baked-on" or "baked-for" date instead, because of its very short shelf life. What Do the Rules Say? The requirements come from Standard 1.2.5 of the Food Standards Code, administered by Food Standards Australia New Zealand . In short: food with a shelf life of two years or less must carry a date mark, use-by dates are a legal safety cut-off, and best-before dates are a quality indicator that does not prohibit sale. For the full breakdown of the standard, including format and made-on-premises rules, see our date marking rules guide . How Should Commercial Kitchens Handle Date Labels? In a busy kitchen, date discipline prevents both illness and waste. Build the following into your routine. Check dates at delivery. Reject stock that is at or near its use-by date, or that arrives warm. Rotate on first-in-first-out. Place newer stock behind older stock so the oldest is used first. See our FIFO stock rotation guide . Run a daily out-of-date check. Remove anything past its use-by date and review best-before items for quality. Label made-on-premises items. Apply prep labels with a made-on date and an internal use-by date calculated from production. Discard safely. Never sell or serve food past its use-by date, and record the discard. Handling best-before stock sensibly reduces waste: quality items just past best-before can often still be used where safe and appropriate, cutting unnecessary bin costs. Our waste and expiry tools flag approaching dates before they become a problem. Why the Difference Matters for Food Waste Confusing the two dates is a major and avoidable cause of food waste. Because "best-before" sounds like a hard cut-off, perfectly good food is thrown out unnecessarily — canned goods, dry pasta and biscuits are routinely binned when they remain safe and of acceptable quality well past the date. Understanding that best-before is a quality indicator, not a safety limit, lets a kitchen use that stock sensibly and cut its bin costs. The reverse discipline is just as important. Use-by dates are a genuine safety limit and must be respected without exception. A well-run kitchen draws a sharp line between the two: use-by items are removed and discarded the moment they expire, while best-before items are assessed on quality and used where still good. Getting this distinction right is one of the simplest ways to reduce waste without compromising safety, and it starts with training staff on what each date actually means. Storage Conditions Change Everything Both dates assume the food has been stored exactly as the label directs. A use-by date on a chilled ready-to-eat food only holds if the product is kept at 5°C or below throughout its life. If that food spends hours in the danger zone of 5°C to 60°C — left on a bench, in a warm delivery van, or in a fridge running too warm — it can become unsafe before its printed use-by date ever arrives. This is why the printed date and the storage temperature must be treated together. In practice, that means checking that chilled deliveries arrive cold, getting stock into refrigeration quickly, and monitoring fridge and coolroom temperatures continuously. Once a package is opened, the manufacturer's date may no longer apply at all: relabel opened or decanted products with the date opened and an internal use-by based on your food-safety program, and keep them at 5°C or below. The date on the pack is a guide, but correct storage is what actually keeps the food safe. Frequently Asked Questions Is it illegal to sell food past its use-by date? Yes. Food must not be sold after its use-by date because it may be unsafe. This applies even if the food looks and smells fine. Selling past a best-before date is generally allowed if the food is still of acceptable quality. Can I eat food after the best-before date? Usually yes. A best-before date is about quality, not safety, so food is often still safe to eat afterward, though it may have declined in taste or texture. Always inspe