Podcast: Guest Episode: What do the dates on our food mean?
Do you ever wonder what all those dates on your food mean? What’s safe to eat and what should you toss? Today, we’re discussing food date labeling with a guest podcast episode from Inspect and Protect, The Canadian Food inspection Agency podcast with hosts Greg Rogers and Michelle Strong. Today, Laura Reid, a date labeling expert from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency breaks down the difference between best before dates, which are about food quality, and expiry dates, which focus on safety. She shares tips on how to handle foods after their best before dates and why proper storage matters. Then Sophie Langlois-Blouin from the National Zero Waste Council provides ideas on the best ways to reduce food waste in the kitchen.
“Expiry dates and best before dates are not the same thing. Expiration dates are required on a small number of specific foods like infant formula and meal replacements. These foods have strict compositional and nutritional specifications that might not be met after their date has passed. Best before dates are about food quality, not food safety, and they are required on foods that have a shelf life of less than 90 days… As long as the food has been stored properly, those foods would be okay to eat.”
Laura Reid, Canadian Food Inspection Agency
The National Zero Waste Council did a study that found 63% of the food Canadian households throw away is considered avoidable… And for the average household, avoidable food waste amounts to 4.5 meals per week, which is the equivalent of $1,300 per year. For Canada altogether, avoidable food waste from households amounts to 2.3 million tons per year. It’s a lot of food.”
Sophie Langlois-Blouin, RECYC-QUÉBEC

Guest Episode: Inspect and Protect
official podcast of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency
Sophie Langlois-Blouin
For more than 18 years, Sophie Langlois-Blouin worked for RECYC-QUÉBEC, a public corporation with the mission to foster the reuse, recovery and recycling of containers and packaging and the reduction of food waste. She also represented RECYC-QUÉBEC on the National Zero Waste Council.
Laura Reid
Laura Reid is National Manager of the food labelling team in the Policy and Programs Branch of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. She’s based in Ottawa, Ontario.
Greg Rogers
Greg Rogers is the Communications Manager for the four Atlantic provinces at the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. He also co-hosts “Inspect and Protect”, the CFIA’s official podcast all about food safety, plant and animal health. He is based in Moncton, New Brunswick.
Michelle Strong
Michelle Strong is Senior Communications Advisor for Animal Health Programs for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency. She is also co-host for “Inspect and Protect”, the CFIA’s official podcast all about food safety, plant and animal health. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario.
Podcast Transcript
Clinton Monchuk: (00:07)
From Canadian Food Focus, this is Ask a Farmer. I’m your host, Clinton Monchuk, a Saskatchewan farmer. In this podcast, we talk to food experts to answer your questions about your food.
Clinton Monchuk: (00:25)
Welcome to the Ask a Farmer podcast everyone. Did you ever wonder what all those dates mean on your food? What’s safe to eat, and what should you actually toss out? Today we’re discussing food date labeling with a guest podcast episode from Inspect and Protect: the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s podcast with Greg Rogers and Michelle Strong. Today, Laura Reed, a date labeling expert from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, breaks down the difference between best before dates, which are about food quality, and expiry dates, which focus on safety. She shares tips on how to handle foods after their best before dates and why proper storage matters. Stick around to learn how these labels help prevent food waste and ensure your food pantry stays fresh.
Laura Reid: (01:18)
But when we’re talking about dates, there’s lots of different dates, right? So we have a best before date. We have expiry dates, and they’re different. So a best before date is more about quality. An expiry date is more about food safety. So if you have something with an expiry date, I would suggest not to consume those products after the expiration date. The best before date, however, sometimes you can keep those things a little longer if you’ve stored them well.
Greg Rogers: (01:46)
Hi, I’m Greg.
Michelle Strong: (01:46)
And I’m Michelle. And this is Inspect and Protect: the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s official podcast.
Greg Rogers: (01:52)
All about food safety, animal health, and plant health.
Michelle Strong: (01:56)
Greg, you ever got that pit in your stomach where you know it’s snack time? You’re hungry, but then you open up your fridge and you realize there’s some items that have been in there for a long time.
Greg Rogers: (02:08)
Always.
Michelle Strong: (02:09)
So you think to yourself, okay, maybe it’s time to finally clean things up. But what do all these dates mean on these items? How do you know what’s still good and what should be chucked out? How do you avoid food waste?
Greg Rogers: (02:21)
For sure, that’s happened to me. This episode, we’ve invited date labeling expert Laura Reid to help us understand how to interpret those best before dates and other useful labels on our food.
Laura Reid: (02:33)
My name is Laura Reid. I’m the manager of the food labeling section in the Consumer Protection and Market Fairness Division of the [Canadian Food Inspection] Agency’s Policy and Programs Branch.
Greg Rogers: (02:43)
Hi, Laura. Thanks for joining us today.
Michelle Strong: (02:45)
Can you tell us a little bit about best before dates? Like how should people interpret these labels when they’re sorting through their fridge or pantry looking at food?
Laura Reid: (02:54)
That’s a great question. So first of all, you should know that best before dates indicate things like freshness and taste. And they’re required on prepackaged foods that have a shelf life of 90 days or less. Examples of those foods would be fresh meats or milk. But for foods that have a shelf life more than 90 days, like dried pasta or canned fruits, manufacturers can voluntarily add a best before date. The main thing for consumers to keep in mind is that the best before date is about food quality, not food safety. The best before date will tell you that unopened food products should keep their freshness, their taste, their nutritional value, and other qualities until that specified date. If it’s opened, though, the shelf life could be shortened. So it’s important to store your foods properly before and after they’re opened so they remain safe to eat.
Laura Reid: (03:42)
So when that date has passed, a food can lose some of its freshness and flavor. Its texture could have changed or it may lose some of its nutritional value. Some foods are okay to eat after the best before date has passed, like rice or cookies, for example. Consumers should remember though, that some foods will become microbiologically unsafe without necessarily seeing signs of spoilage. So they may not be best to consume after the date has passed. All that to say though, consumers can use the best before date as a guide when they’re sorting through their fridge or their pantry.
Greg Rogers: (04:15)
So it’s really about food quality, not like a food safety issue.
Laura Reid: (04:19)
Exactly. Yeah.
Michelle Strong: (04:20)
So if we have food in our pantry or in our fridge that’s past the best before date, we shouldn’t judge each other. Right. . Unless, unless there’s mold. Don’t eat that.
Laura Reid: (04:30)
Exactly. No, I for sure probably have a few things in my pantry that are expired. Well, maybe I should specify, past the best before date, because there is a distinction between best before dates and expiry dates, right? So, and we have lots of other dates in Canada that we talk about.
Michelle Strong: (04:48)
Can you run us through a description of each of them?
Laura Reid: (04:51)
So, expiration dates are required on a small number of specific foods like infant formula and meal replacements. These foods have strict compositional and nutritional specifications that might not be met after their date has passed. Expiry dates and best before dates are not the same thing. So best before dates, like I spoke about, they’re about food quality, not food safety, and are required on foods that have a shelf life of less than 90 days. And you’ll find those on foods throughout the grocery store: for example, meats, fish, poultry, milk, and bread. As long as the food has been stored properly, those foods would be okay to eat. For the most part. After the best before date has passed, then we see a used by date, which is required on prepackaged fresh yeast. Some meat products and certain seafood, like clams and oysters, are required to have a manufacturing or a production date or a harvest date, as is the case for shellfish. The freeze by date is an example of a voluntary date that tells you that a product can be frozen to maintain its quality if it’s not eaten by that date. And then on certain other foods, you might see other dates that are required. We do notice, though in the market that consumers really want to see dates on their food, so voluntarily manufacturers can add those dates.
Michelle Strong: (06:02)
Right.
Laura Reid: (06:03)
Another important thing to know is that there’s rules about date labeling. For example, these dates must be truthful and not misleading, and they can’t, if they’re added voluntarily, they can’t take the place of a mandatory best before date. In cases where the date labeling is required, there’s display rules such as for language, for format, for legibility and location. In addition to dates, we also have lot codes, which provide information about when the food was manufactured, and that’s useful for consumers and manufacturers as well as retailers because these lot codes help with traceability, especially in the case of a recall. So to summarize, many foods have dates. Some are required to carry dates, but even when they’re added voluntarily, they have to be truthful and not misleading, and there’s rules for how to use them. But really to answer a question about expired foods in your pantry, generally when we’re looking at date marking at the agency [CFIA], we focus our efforts on verifying that mandatory information is truthful and it’s available to consumers so they can make decisions.
Greg Rogers: (07:06)
What about refrigerate after opening? That’s like my big key issue so many times. Is there any guidance around whether it’s still safe to consume or is it, is that also kind of a best before situation?
Laura Reid: (07:21)
I would say generally when manufactured, when they add things about storage conditions on a food label, it’s best to follow those instructions. Because they can’t guarantee that the food is going to be safe if it’s not stored properly. I would say generally things like, you know, jam or maple syrup or the wow butter I have in my pantry, generally I try to put those in the fridge after they’ve been opened.
Greg Rogers: (07:45)
Right. I think about like wine, you know, you’re supposed to consume wine, red wine, for instance, you know, within the week, which, you know, usually isn’t a problem. But, you know, it’s still good after that length of time, right?
Laura Reid: (08:01)
For sure. And if the taste is not what you’re expecting, you can always cook with it too. Right?
Michelle Strong: (08:07)
Good point. That’s a great tip. Unlike salsa , which seems to be my product of choice in the fridge that goes [bad]. What other product would you say, seems to be popular for unfortunately going into the waste bin?
Laura Reid: (08:24)
At my house, I would say some of the green vegetables that the kids are not super happy to take in their lunch.
Michelle Strong: (08:31)
We did a bit of research on this after speaking with Laura, and according to Canada’s Zero Waste Council, the food items that are most frequently wasted are vegetables and fruits, leftovers, bread and bakery, and dairy and eggs.
Greg Rogers: (08:46)
Vegetables and fruits are by far the main culprits. Calculated by weight, they represent 45% of wasted foods in Canada. Do you have a separate pantry, like that’s chockablock full of stuff, like a doomsday prepper like we do here?
Laura Reid: (09:01)
My pantry’s pretty full. I would say if, yeah, if there’s a big apocalypse in Barrhaven, you could come to my house and I could probably feed quite a number of people for a while, although I can’t speak to how delicious everything is going to be. But, I do tend to have a pretty stocked pantry.
Greg Rogers: (09:18)
Yeah. That’s the biggest challenge for us is, you know, when you buy a new… Like, we go through a ton of like chicken broth for instance, or beef broth, and so we’ll buy a new mega pack of that, and then I have to bring the old stuff from the back to the front to try and have the stuff that I should use soonest, closest kind of thing. But, then you’ll get like cans of soup that are been there for sometimes 15 years.
Laura Reid: (09:43)
Stock rotation is important for sure, yeah.
Greg Rogers: (09:46)
So do you have any favorite recipes or things to do with food leftovers or scraps?
Laura Reid: (09:52)
Well, a colleague of mine, and it’s something I’ve tried to do a couple of times, she told me about this recipe in her house, and it’s called “atooski”. So you know, based on the name alone, I was like, well, what is that? And she said, well, it’s to ski down the refrigerator . So, kind of a meal of sort of anything and everything. But also I think there’s some apps where you can scan the food in your fridge or your pantry, or you can enter the foods that you have and the apps will give you great recipes. So, for instance, you know, after Thanksgiving, everybody’s kind of turkeyed out, but you always have a little bit of leftover turkey, so I try to make like a pasta: turkey mac and cheese, that kind of thing. Those types of casserole are usually pretty great for using up some stuff you might find hidden in your fridge.
Michelle Strong: (10:41)
I think my go-to is always banana bread. Somehow. We always end up with one banana that’s turning a little bit too dark. You put it in the freezer…
Greg Rogers: (10:51)
One banana? You’re lucky.
Michelle Strong: (10:52)
Yeah. Oh, the freezer is packed.
Laura Reid: (10:54)
It’s banana baking, on Saturday mornings at my place to use up the bananas for sure.
Greg Rogers: (10:58)
I would probably have at least a dozen frozen bananas. I’m thinking maybe even 20 frozen bananas right now. But they do get used up. So freeze your yogurt and the bananas: make a smoothie. You know, problem solved.
Michelle Strong: (11:10)
There you go.
Laura Reid: (11:11)
Perfect idea,
Michelle Strong: (11:12)
Laura, I really appreciate.. Well, we really appreciate you being here.
Greg Rogers: (11:16)
Really appreciate it.
Laura Reid: (11:17)
Yeah, great. It’s been my pleasure.
Michelle Strong: (11:20)
After speaking with Laura, we were curious to learn more about food waste in Canada. So we reached out to a food waste expert.
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (11:28)
I’m Sophie Langlois-Blouin. I’m vice president of operations at RECYC-QUÉBEC, and I’m also a board member of the National Zero Waste Council.
Michelle Strong: (11:39)
We’re happy to have you here, Sophie. Thanks for joining us.
Greg Rogers: (11:42)
So Sophie, how bad of a problem is food waste in Canada?
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (11:47)
The National Zero Waste Council did a study a few years back, and we found out that 63% of the food Canadian households throw away is considered avoidable. So it was edible at some point before it was put into the organics collection or in the bin. And for the average household, avoidable food waste amounts to 4.5 meals per week. Which is the equivalent of $1,300 per year. So I would say it’s significant. For Canada altogether, avoidable food waste from households amounts to 2.3 million tons per year. So, yeah, it’s a lot of food that is, that should have been eaten before going to landfill or composting, for example.
Michelle Strong: (12:45)
So do we know if food waste is mostly a consumer issue or is it like a bigger issue at other places In the supply chain?
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (12:52)
We see food loss and waste across the food chain. So there’s food loss and waste at the production level, distribution, transformation, retail also. Households do have a part in this, but it’s a bigger issue than that. So that’s why we need collective efforts. Those collective efforts are needed and every sector has to contribute in order to reduce food loss and waste in Canada.
Greg Rogers: (13:20)
Do you have any kind of top tips for people looking to avoid food waste?
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (13:25)
I have a lot of tips. The Love Food Hate Waste campaign and the website, which is available in French and English, offers a lot of tips. But I wrote down five that I want to share with you. The first one is: plan for the right amount. So it looks simple, but it’s something you could do at home when, for example, you receive, you have guests over. Instead of serving everyone a portion, you can just serve the meal family style, so everyone can get the portion they want. And I find this particularly useful with kids, for instance, when you serve them smaller portions first, and then if they really like the food you serve, then they can have more. So it lessens the food you have to throw away, for example. Reheat leftovers and make sure that your leftovers are easily seen in the fridge.
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (14:28)
So, for instance, you can put them on the shelf that is at your sight level so you don’t forget you have leftovers. Because leftovers are one of the foods we throw away at home after vegetables and fruit. So make sure that you use your leftovers and freeze them if you don’t think you will eat them in the following days. And the freezer is really your best friend for everything, I think. Most of the food can be frozen, so it’s a good way to have, for example, fruits. We have berries that are produced in Canada, in Quebec, for example, in the summer. So freeze them and you’ll have them during winter, for example, for smoothies or muffins. So that’s a good use. The freezer is really a good friend. The other thing I would say, is store well, so make sure that you put the food in the right place, whether it’s in the cupboard, on the counter, in the fridge. On the Love Food Hate Waste website, we have for different type of foods, how long you can put them on the counter or in the fridge. So that’s a good tool to look up.
Greg Rogers: (15:50)
Yeah, you’re right on with the freezer though. That’s,, those are some great tips. My favorite is frozen grapes. I discovered them like a couple years ago, and they just, I don’t know, it makes them sweeter. I think I like green ones better, but like seedless grapes frozen: it’s game changer.
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (16:06)
I’ve never done that.
Greg Rogers: (16:08)
No, it’s really, really good.
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (16:09)
It’s like a popsicle.
Greg Rogers: (16:11)
Yeah. It’s the texture. It’s kind of like when it’s super frozen, it’s a little bit hard, but when it, when it thaws just a little bit, it’s just, ah, it’s, yeah. It’s really, really nice.
Michelle Strong: (16:20)
So Sophie, can you tell us a bit about the work that you’re doing in collaboration with the Love Food Hate Waste campaign?
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (16:27)
Yes. RECYC-QUÉBEC has been a partner in the campaign since its beginning in 2018. So it’s a Canadian campaign that is overseen by the National Zero Waste Council. And right now we’re engaging local governments or municipalities into the campaign. So we have a few, some cities in the province of Quebec that are coming into the campaign. And so we’re going to work together in order to increase awareness about food loss and waste, and make sure that citizens in the province have the tips and tools in order to reduce food waste at all.
Michelle Strong: (17:09)
Thanks for joining us.
Sophie Langlois-Blouin: (17:11)
It was my pleasure.
Michelle Strong: (17:12)
If you’re looking for more info on date labeling, we’ve linked to a handy written guide in our description. If you’re listening from the CFIA website, you’ll find it by scrolling down on our ‘Learn more’ section.
Greg Rogers: (17:23)
We’ve also inserted links to RECYC-QUÉBEC, Love Food Hate Waste, and Canada’s National Zero Waste Council. You’ll find lots of creative tips to use up extra food as well as recent initiatives in Canada to reduce food waste.
Michelle Strong: (17:38)
This has been Inspect and Protect, the CFIA’s official podcast.
Clinton Monchuk: (17:47)
That wraps up an insightful guest episode from Inspect and Protect. Today, we’ve learned a lot from Laura Reid about the importance of understanding food date labels. Remember whether it’s the best before date or expiry date. These labels are there to guide us on food quality and food safety. By making informed choices and using handy tips like proper storage and utilizing leftovers creatively, we can all play a part in reducing food waste. For more resources and information on food date labeling and waste reduction, check out the links in our description. Thank you for tuning in, and be sure to check out more episodes from Inspect and Protect, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s podcast.
Clinton Monchuk: (18:44)
I want to thank you for taking the time to listen to our Ask a Farmer podcast. We at Canadian Food Focus value the input from our listeners and ask that you share the podcast with your friends and family. Remember, this is a two-way street, so we seek your input for future segments that are of interest to you about food and farming. To do this, please click on the ‘Ask Us’ icon at the top of our website, canadianfoodfocus.org. While you’re there, feel free to follow our numerous social media links and sign up for our newsletter. This segment was produced and edited by Angela Larson, research and writing by Dorothy Long and Penny Eaton. Music by Andy Elson. I’m your host Clinton Monchuk, and from all of us at Canadian Food Focus, we wish you good health and great eats.
Resources
- Date labelling on pre-packaged foods
- Safe food storage (Health Canada)
- Love Food, Hate Waste
- RECYC-QUÉBEC – French only
- Canada’s National Zero Waste Council
- Government of Canada launches Food Waste Reduction Challenge
- The First Sixteen Podcast – The opportunity of food waste (Episode 007)
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