6 Date Labels on Food Packages and What Each One Means
You open the fridge, grab a carton of eggs, and spot a date printed on the side. Suddenly, breakfast turns into a tiny investigation.
Is that date telling you the eggs are unsafe? Is it meant for the grocery store? Is it simply saying they may not taste quite as fresh?
Food date labels sound straightforward, but they are surprisingly easy to misunderstand. A 2025 survey of 2,069 U.S. adults found that 44% believed food date phrases were federally regulated, even though federal law doesn’t require most consumer-facing dates on ordinary foods. The same research found that 43% of adults said they usually or always throw food away when it gets close to or passes its printed date.
That confusion can get expensive. A ReFED estimate cited in the research links date-label misunderstanding to roughly 3 billion pounds of household food waste, worth about $7 billion each year.
So before that yogurt, cereal, or carton of eggs heads toward the trash, here is what six common date labels actually mean.
Best If Used By or Best By
This label should make you think about quality, not an automatic trip to the garbage can.
USDA guidance describes “Best if Used By” as a date connected to a food’s best flavor or quality. After that point, the texture, freshness, or taste may gradually change, but the printed date by itself does not mean the food suddenly became unsafe.
That distinction matters because many shoppers understandably read “best” as another way of saying “expired.”
Federal agencies currently recommend “Best if Used By” as the preferred wording for a voluntary quality date. Still, proper storage matters more than the calendar alone. A food that has been left at the wrong temperature does not become safe simply because the best-by date is still several days away.
California has gone a step further. For covered foods manufactured on or after July 1, 2026, state law specifies approved wording for quality dates, including “BEST if Used by.”
Sell By
This one is largely talking to the store, not to you.
USDA says a “Sell By” date tells retailers how long to display a product for inventory management. In other words, it helps employees know when products should move through the shelves.
It is not a federal safety deadline.
Egg cartons are a good example. A carton may have a sell-by date, but that does not mean the eggs automatically need to go into the trash the following morning.
Federal storage guidance says raw shell eggs can generally be refrigerated for three to five weeks when kept at 40°F or below. Eggs should also stay in their original carton and preferably in the colder part of the refrigerator rather than the door.
California now prohibits consumer-facing “Sell By” wording on many covered foods manufactured starting July 1, 2026, although eggs are exempt.
So if you see “Sell By,” think grocery store stock rotation first.
Use By
Here is where things get a little more complicated.
USDA’s general food dating guidance describes “Use By” as the final recommended date for peak quality. However, the phrase does not have one universal meaning across every food and every labeling system.
Some industry labeling programs use “Use By” as a safety or discard instruction, and California’s new date labeling system also uses “USE by” for covered safety dates.
Infant formula deserves its own clear rule.
Federal regulations require a “Use By” date on infant formula. Manufacturers must determine that date using information showing the formula will maintain the required nutrients and acceptable quality through that time.
Do not buy or use infant formula after its use-by date.
For other foods, check the product instructions, storage history, and food-specific guidance instead of assuming every “Use By” label means exactly the same thing.
Freeze By
“Freeze By” sounds dramatic, but the basic federal definition is much simpler.
USDA says the phrase indicates when to freeze a food to maintain its peak quality. It is not automatically a safety or purchase deadline.
That does not mean you should find chicken forgotten in the back of the refrigerator for a week and rescue it by throwing it into the freezer.
Freezing does not erase poor storage history.
Federal guidance recommends refrigerating raw chicken and turkey for only one to two days. Fresh steaks, chops, and roasts generally have a three- to five-day refrigerator window.
Once food is properly frozen and continuously kept at 0°F or below, recommended freezer times are largely about maintaining quality.
California creates another important distinction. Its law allows “BEST if Used or Frozen by” for quality and “USE by or Freeze by” for certain safety dates.
Related: Freezer Myths Food Experts Wish You Would Stop Believing
Packed On or Pack Date
A pack date is basically a timestamp telling you when the food went through a particular packing process.
It doesn’t automatically tell you when to throw the food away.
For USDA-graded shell eggs, for example, the pack date identifies the day the eggs were washed, graded, and placed into the carton. That is different from the day the hen laid the egg.
Egg cartons commonly use a three-digit system. January 1 is represented as 001, and the numbers continue through the calendar year.
Pack dates also have important traceability uses. Federal requirements call for pack date identification in certain poultry and commercially sterile food situations.
So when you see “Packed On,” think production information first, not expiration countdown.
Related: 5 Protein-Packed Foods That Make Meatless Dinners Feel Like a Real Meal
Expiration Date or EXP
Surely “EXP” must have one crystal-clear national definition, right?
Not quite.
For ordinary foods, there is no single generally applicable federal rule making every “Expiration Date” or “EXP” stamp a universal safety cutoff.
Its meaning can depend on the product, manufacturer, and state requirements.
Egg cartons are one place where you may encounter expiration wording. Even there, don’t treat the printed date as proof that a properly refrigerated egg suddenly becomes unsafe at midnight.
Food storage conditions still matter.
And remember the big exception: infant formula follows its federally required “Use By” rule, not a generic EXP system.
The Date Is Only Part of the Story
Package dates can help, but your refrigerator doesn’t run on the calendar alone.
Federal guidance recommends keeping refrigerators at 40°F or below and freezers at 0°F or below. Raw poultry generally gets only one to two refrigerated days, cooked meat and poultry leftovers about three to four days, and raw shell eggs about three to five weeks.
And the sniff test cannot answer every safety question. FDA guidance warns that food can contain harmful bacteria even when it looks, smells, or tastes normal.
The easiest rule to remember: read the words around the date instead of treating every printed number as an expiration deadline.
“Best By,” “Sell By,” “Use By,” “Freeze By,” “Packed On,” and “EXP” may sit in the same tiny corner of a package, but they can be giving you very different information.
