Use by or best before? A food-date decision card

A date on a food pack is not one universal instruction. The first useful question is which label you are looking at: use by or best before. This short card helps you take the right route, then sends you to the current official guidance for the detail. It is about ordinary food labels, not supplement efficacy or a promise that a particular food is safe.

Two-lane food-date card. Use by: safety; follow the date and storage directions, and do not use smell as clearance after the date. Best before: quality; follow storage directions and consult official guidance on sight, smell and taste after the date.
Start with the words on the pack, then read its storage and after-opening instructions. The complete text path is below.

Read the label in two passes

  1. Find the exact date label. “Use by” concerns food safety. “Best before” concerns quality. Do not swap the rules between them.
  2. Check the rest of the pack. Read how to store the food and what to do after opening it. Storage matters: official guidance warns that food stored incorrectly could become unsafe even before its use-by date.
  3. Use the appropriate official guidance. For a use-by food, do not treat a normal smell or appearance as permission to eat it after that date. For a best-before food, GOV.UK explains how sight, smell or taste can help assess quality after the date. That is not a safety guarantee for every food in every condition.

If a label or its storage directions are missing, unclear or damaged, do not guess from this card. Check the product information and GOV.UK’s best-before and use-by guidance. The same page explains particular cooking and freezing rules; this card deliberately does not simplify those exceptions.

A quick example

You find two unopened items while sorting the cupboard and fridge. One says “best before”; the other says “use by”. Even if their dates look alike, they lead to different questions. For each item, read its storage and opening directions first. Use the official best-before quality guidance for the first, and the use-by safety guidance for the second. Do not transfer the best-before sensory check to the use-by item.

Why this belongs alongside our label guides

Clear labels make food-first choices easier. This card covers food date labels; our blank supplement-label worksheet deals with a different job: recording the identity, serving and source information on a supplement pack. Neither worksheet proves a health claim.

Source: GOV.UK, “Best before and use-by dates” (checked 22 October 2026). Follow the latest official page if its advice changes.