The Date on Your Food Is Basically Made Up (Expiration Dates Explained)

The date on your milk isn't a safety date. In most of America, no law even requires it. There's exactly one food the federal government makes carry a date — baby formula. On almost everything else, the company simply picked a number. This video explains who actually picks the date on your food and how, why the dates were invented in the 1970s (when food carried secret codes), why a bottle of water has an expiration date, the Montana milk rule, how much good food date confusion costs — and the twist: the germs that actually make people sick usually don't change how food smells or looks. Plus: how to read "best if used by", "sell by" and "use by", and the secret 3-digit number on your egg carton. Chapters 0:00 The date on your milk 0:51 Who picks the number 1:55 The secret codes of the 1970s 3:10 50+ phrases, Montana milk and bottled water 4:35 The price of confusion 5:26 The danger your nose can't detect 6:55 How to read the date on your food 8:27 Why it works Sources USDA FSIS, Food Product Dating: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety... Labuza & Szybist, "Playing the Open Dating Game," Food Technology (IFT), 1999: https://www.ift.org/news-and-publicat... Office of Technology Assessment, Open Shelf-Life Dating of Food (1979): https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk3/... M&S Archive, sell-by dates (1970): https://www.mylearning.org/resources/... NRDC & Harvard Food Law and Policy Clinic, "The Dating Game" (2013): https://www.nrdc.org/resources/dating... California Department of Food and Agriculture, Food Date Labeling (AB 660): https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/is/foodrecove... Ag Proud, Montana hearing examiner on the 12-day milk rule: https://www.agproud.com/articles/2050... Montana Free Press Capitol Tracker 2025, SB 415: https://projects.montanafreepress.org... Mental Floss, why bottled water has an expiration date: https://mentalfloss.com/article/22098... USDA ERS, EIB-121 (2014), food loss in 2010: https://www.ers.usda.gov/publications... NPR (2019), FDA urges "best if used by": https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/... USDA FSIS, spoilage vs. pathogenic bacteria: https://webharvest.gov/peth04/2004101... CDC, final update on the 2024 Listeria outbreak linked to meats sliced at deli counters (via Meat+Poultry): https://meatpoultry.com/articles/3112... CDC, Listeria and higher-risk groups: https://archive.cdc.gov/www_cdc_gov/l... USDA FSIS, Shell Eggs from Farm to Table: https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety... Farming UK (2022), Morrisons replaces "use by" with "best before" on milk: https://www.farminguk.com/news/sniff-... This video is general information, not medical advice. When in doubt — especially with deli meats, soft cheeses, smoked fish and baby formula — follow the "use by" date. Images are AI-generated illustrations; diagrams are simplified; date codes shown are illustrative. #food #foodsafety #howitworks