
We live in a society marked by immediacy and waste. Most of the things we buy such as televisions, cars, telephones, etc. are marked by their own validity period in what is known as planned obsolescence, so that the process of making-selling-buying is never finished. Is it the same with food? Everything points to yes.
Rely on the expiration date
Immersed as we are in an endless crisis and with most families in an increasingly delicate situation, it is necessary to review our life habits in search of alternatives to save or, at least, not to waste. It is clear that we waste too much food, both in homes and in supermarkets and also in industries, and there are many documentaries that we see lately reflecting this situation of waste.
Thus, it is being planned to extend the expiration date of food to be able to take advantage of them more. In this way, households would not throw away so much food and businesses could continue to sell those products for longer at a discounted price. Apparently we all win, but experience tells us that when some government acts proclaiming from the rooftops the multiple benefits of its action, the citizen usually loses out.
Especially suspicious has been the intervention of the Spanish Minister Arias Cañete assuring that he always eats expired yogurts, because it sounds like misleading propaganda like that image of Fraga on the beach of Palomares. Are they endangering our health? It is true that it has been talked about for some time that the expiration date is not so accurate and that it leaves a wide margin for the product to become really harmful. But if the question is to avoid throwing food in the trash, it may be better to learn how to make a responsible purchase before taking the slightest risk to our health.
Expiration date or best before date
It is worth remembering the distinction between the expiration date and the best before date, which is something that not everyone is clear about. Products for immediate consumption such as dairy, meat and vacuum-packed foods are marked only by the expiration date that determines when that food is no longer suitable for consumption.
For its part, the best before date warns that after that date the product may have lost some of its qualities, such as taste, for example, but in no case does it constitute a health risk. Clarified this, what the government plans is to extend the expiration date to prolong the life of the product and not waste on the way from its manufacture to the consumer.
The appropriateness of this measure is questioned by the suspicion raised by any change these days. Is it safe to extend the expiration date? Of course, we have all eaten a yogurt that had been expired for two days and nothing has happened. But wouldn’t it be better to look at the expiration date before and organize the purchase so that we buy only what we are going to consume?