Food and Safety Advice for the Public

hbcadmin, 19 February 2019

Use by and best before dates

It is commonly thought that selling food past its best before date is an offence, unless the food has made you unwell, this is not the case. Manufacturers apply a best before date to inform consumers that eating food past this date is likely to affect its quality but it will not make you unwell. If food is past its best before date we suggest that you inform the food business owner first.

The use by date is applied by the manufacturer to indicate that consuming the food after this date could be unsafe. It is an offence to sell food past its use by date.