Is It Legal For Grocery Stores To Sell Expired Food?

Like many people, you've probably come across an expired item in your fridge, given it a good once-over, eaten it anyway, and were most likely just fine afterward. Other times, you may check the date on a product in the grocery store and quickly put it back in disgust when you see that it is past its expiration date. It happens more often than most of us would care to think about, which leads us to wonder whether it's legal for a store to sell expired products. It turns out the answer isn't a simple yes or no.

On a federal level, there aren't any laws against selling expired foods, except when it comes to baby food and infant formulas. When it comes to other foods, federal guidelines don't even actually require them to have an expiration date, but there are different state laws that apply to certain products, so it depends on which individual state the store is in. In Montana, for instance, milk producers are legally required to give consumers only 12 days to buy pasteurized milk after it's processed; other states don't have such strict milk laws. And in Arizona, you'll find an "expiration" date on eggs; in California, it has to be a "sell by" date.  

Because the laws are inconsistent, understanding the dates on food packaging can be helpful. Generally, they aren't steadfast rules for when foods will go bad, but rather dates assigned by the manufacturer to let you know when they were packaged, when they will reach peak freshness, and how long the manufacturer expects them to stay fresh.

While there is one food on the supermarket shelf that never truly goes bad (honey never expires, in case you were wondering), for everything else, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Services offers guidance on what different expiration labels mean to help you decide if you should eat something, question it, or completely pass.

The "best by" or "best before" dates simply mean the manufacturer expects the product's taste, appearance, and texture will start to decline around those dates. If the label reads "use by," that date is the last date the product will likely be at peak quality, not safety (with the exception of infant food and formula). If the item has a "sell by" label, the date listed is still not a safety date. It is simply the date the retailer should remove it from the shelves based on the manufacturer's recommendations.

Most grocery stores try to sell products before the expiration date or donate them when they can no longer be sold, but some items do still make it past the quality control checks and remain on the shelves past their expiration dates. Whether your state allows these items to be sold or not, and whether you are thinking about eating them or not, it's best to use a combination of manufacturer recommendations and your good judgment, and skip it if you have any doubts.