page_title: Expiration date
section_title: Best before
hierarchical_section_title: Expiration date / Parallel names / Best before
caption_attribution_description: English: A tag sealing a bag of hot dog buns displays the expiration date. Oddly, it says that the expiration date is February 29, even though the year in which the hot dogs were sold was not a leap year. Photographed by Brandon Dilbeck on February 28, 2007.
context_page_description: An expiration date or expiry date is a previously determined date after which something should no longer be used, either by operation of law or by exceeding the anticipated shelf life for perishable goods. Expiration dates are applied to selected food products and to some other manufactured products like infant car seats where the age of the product may impact its safe use.
  Arbitrary expiration dates are also commonly applied by companies to product coupons, promotional offers and credit cards. In these contexts, the expiration date is chosen for business reasons or to provide some security function rather than any product safety concern.
  Expiration date is often abbreviated EXP or ED. The legal definition and usage of the term expiration date will vary between countries and products.
context_section_description: Best before or best by dates appear on a wide range of frozen, dried, tinned and other foods. These dates are only advisory and refer to the quality of the product, in contrast with use by dates, which indicate that the product may no longer be safe to consume after the specified date. Food kept after the best before date will not necessarily be harmful, but may begin to lose its optimum flavour and texture. Eggs are a special case, since they may contain salmonella which multiplies over time; they should therefore be eaten before the best before date, which is, in the USA, a maximum of 45 days after the eggs are packed.
  Sometimes the packaging process involves using pre-printed labels, making it impractical to write the best before date in a clearly visible location. In this case, wording like best before see bottom or best before see lid might be printed on the label and the date marked in a different location as indicated.
  Sometimes is used 0001.01.01 marking of expiry date that means that after opening of the product it should be used in line with instruction and can't be transferred to other person.
caption: A tag sealing a bag of hot dog buns displays a best before date of February 29.
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