“Expired” food: directly in the trashcan or still consumable?
In a series entitled Fight against Food Waste, SRF News discusses the amount of food waste from the field to our plate and tips for knowing if “expired” food is still “good.” In an interview, WFSC member Prof. Martin Loessner (Laboratory of Food Microbiology) provides some helpful rules when looking at the “use by” dates on different foods.
What tips does Prof. Loessner have when looking at everyday products? He suggests to use a couple basic rules:
-Take the “use by” dates seriously, especially when buying fresh meat and fish.
- Fermented products such as yogurt and sauerkraut are consumable for long periods, often long past the “best-by date” on the package.
- Dried goods are safe to consume, unless it has fungus on it.
- With fresh produce, you can usually safely trust your senses. Produce that looks or smells rotten is also normally not good to eat.
Read the full interview with Prof. Loessner and listen the radio commentary on food waste on the external pageSRF website (in German).