Friday, December 13, 2013

Information Regarding Expiration Dates

By Keren Kipfer


Often when we purchase food products or beverages we don't look at the expiration dates printed on the packaging. On the other hand, some people are careful not to purchase products where the date is soon to expire. But what do these dates actually mean and are these foods still safe to eat and use? There are important reasons why these details are included on packaging, but they don't always mean that your food is automatically bad. Read on and learn a little bit about these dates.

Wise consumers need to consider looking into expiration dates for items including food, drinks and even medicines. But if you are about to throw away items which have dates that have already passed, give this serious thought: some expirations dates are notices that the food quality might begin to change after the date and the food is simply "best by" a certain date. Still, in some cases the date printed there is actually its true expiration. There should be no room for carelessness when it comes to expiration dates for products like baby foods and baby formulas. These dates are set by the government and you truly need to throw away expired baby foods after the date has passed.

Sell-by dates are basically dates used for products which are perishable such as milk, beef, poultry, meat items and seafood. You may find stores selling these items by their date but you should know that it is still possible for you to store them in your fridge for a time. While the store won't sell an item after this date, a steak a day or two passed the sell-by date is probably fine and you could even freeze it for a few months and then thaw it and safely consume the product. As a rule of thumb such products can still be consumed quite finely as long as their smell and looks are well.

When it comes to shelf-stable products like macaroni and cheese, dry pasta, canned veggies, canned meat and mayonnaise and many other similar products, you will find a date that says "best if used by" or "use by." These are printed on the packages as a quality control and not necessarily because of safety. A can of soup three months passed its expiration might taste fine and probably is still safe, the manufacturer is simply sharing that the quality is at its peak prior to the date of expiration. Again have your senses of smell, taste and sight be your guide. If it looks or smells odd, don't eat it.

If you are looking into machines responsible for printing these expiration dates then you need to know that these are called id coders or id printers. Even batch numbers and serial numbers for products are printed by such machines, which work quickly and use fast-drying inks that adhere to many different package materials. There are many brands of id coders, such as VideoJet coders, Maxima coders, Domino coders and Willett coders.

Replacement inks and make-up for these id coders are always needed by companies using coders. But you should know that making such purchase from your coder's manufacturer could be quite costly. What you need in order to save money is to find a special product id company selling generic versions of such inks. When you find them, you will delight in the fact that they sell generic versions of Domino ink, Imaje ink, Willett ink as well as other brands at great quality but at a much lower cost.




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