08 Oct 2025
Press release w/ pics - Food Hygiene expert shares difference between Use by and Best Before dates
Many supermarkets in the UK are opting to remove best before dates on certain products in a bid to fight food waste.
Many supermarkets in the UK are opting to remove best before dates on certain products in a bid to fight food waste.
Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Marks & Spencer, Waitrose, and Co-op have all removed the dates from a range of products, including fruits and vegetables.
Misunderstanding date labels on fresh produce can lead to significant and unnecessary food waste. According to the Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP), removing these dates could prevent thousands of tonnes of edible food from being discarded annually, as consumers often throw away perfectly good items, assuming they are unsafe after the date has passed.
Use by and best before dates are often confused, but they are different, so it is important to understand which each means and what to look out for.
Here, the team at Food Hygiene experts High Speed Training share the differences between these two pieces of information.
Dr Richard Anderson, Head Of Learning And Development At High Speed Training, said: “Use by dates indicate when a product may no longer be safe to eat. You should not eat, cook, or freeze it after the date displayed, even if it looks or smells fine. Use by dates are typically present on meats and dairy products, as well as ready meals like salads. Always follow the storage instructions on the product (usually refrigeration or freezing). Otherwise, it may no longer be good to eat – even before its use by date.
Using food after its use-by date can put you at risk of food poisoning. Foods that have passed their use-by date may still look OK to eat, but harmful bacteria cannot be seen and does not have a smell.
Foods labelled with a use-by date should be checked daily to make sure they are still safe to eat. Freezing food before its use-by date extends its life, but once defrosted, you should eat the food within 24 hours, and do not freeze food after its use by date.
Dr Anderson continued “Best before dates are an indication of quality rather than safety. You can still eat food after its best before date, but its flavour and texture is most likely not as good as before the date.
“Best before dates are usually displayed on products that do not require refrigeration or freezing, such as dry pasta, bread, tinned products, fruits and vegetables, and uncooked rice. They are also often found on products with a longer shelf life.”
The other dates to be aware of are sell by and display until dates. These often appear next to the use-by and best-before dates on food labelling. They are instructions for the retailers, not customers, and do not determine the date past which it is safe to eat the food.
For more information, visit highspeedtraining.co.uk
Contact Information
Daniel Raymond
daniel.raymond@highspeedtraining.co.uk
Notes to editors
For any additional information, interview requests or comments, please contact Daniel.Raymond@highspeedtraining.co.uk, PR & Brand Manager or Kira.Smith@highspeedtraining.co.uk, PR & Content Executive.
High Speed Training
High Speed Training is a leading online training provider, dedicated to empowering learners in the workplace and beyond. They make compliance and learning simple, straightforward and engaging by delivering accredited digital training that helps people to be engaged, effective and safe.
With over 3 million learners supported to date, High Speed Training works with industry experts and specialists to provide up-to-date thinking and relevant, useful knowledge and deliver practical and user-friendly learning content across all devices.
Founded in 2008, the Yorkshire-based company delivers more than 170 specialist courses for the professional services, hospitality, food manufacture, logistics, education, construction, and health and social care sectors, as well as covering topics including health and safety, food hygiene, risk and compliance management, safeguarding, personal development and core skills.
Since 2023, High Speed training has been an employee-owned trust, and is now wholly owned by its employees, enabling staff to have a financial and directional say in how the business operates.
The company is a registered B Corp, a certification ensuring that businesses meet high standards of social and environmental impact, focusing on a company’s approach to its governance, customers, environment and communities.
In 2023, High Speed Training won the Learning Technologies Organisation of the Year award, and won the First Class E-Learning Large Provider of the Year award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in 2023 and 2024.
All of High Speed Training’s courses meet Continuing Professional Development guidelines and are accredited by the CPD Certification Service. All of their online courses are independently checked and approved by recognised authorities such as CPD, RoSPA, IATP, IIRSM and the Institute of Hospitality.
High Speed Training is officially endorsed by Skills for Care, the strategic body for workforce development in social care in England and a delivery partner for the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC). Skills for Care endorsement is a trusted quality mark only awarded to the best learning and development providers within the social care sector.
In 2024, High Speed Training placed 4th in the Best Education and Training organisations in the UK to work for, 16th in the Yorkshire and Humberside Best Companies to work for and 29th in the Top 50 Best Mid Sized companies to work for in the UK.
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