You ever want to cook a spaghetti dinner and realize your pasta says “Best by: May 2013” and your shelved sauce says “Use by: Feb 2013”? Well, apparently you can still cook that dinner up and eat it without fear. According to THIS ARTICLE  Expiration dates don’t stem from health-related injuries. They stem from the measure of food freshness.

Science has power amongst every field of life. Preservatives are chemicals added to food to make it last longer, taste better and stay out of the garbage. In America, the amount of wasted food grows day by day. Sure people can’t finish what’s already on their plate sometimes, but more often, they even refuse to let some perfectly good food reach the plate.

Naturally, some food will always remain perishable, but with the amount of money spent and health claims made, shouldn’t people be aware of what added preservatives are really doing to help?

We are in an age and a nation that prides itself on the availability of information. When too much information is thrown around, dangerous and contagious interpretations can form. “Use by” and “Best by” are only phrases to indicate that the product is at its freshest and the added preservatives are still working wonders. “Sell by” is even better, meaning that the consumer has plenty of time to still enjoy the product, while the distributer is aware of when to turnover the product.

This commonly misunderstood interpretation of dates on packaging could save Americans so much money! Why did we have chemicals for freshness added in the first place? If we refuse to take advantage of our scientific strides in the best way possible, we begin to rob ourselves, literally!

Today, so much technology has been developed in our favor, not just in food, but in all walks of life. Automatic shifting in cars, voice command in phones, foot massaging slippers, just to name a few, all provide a service that someone thought we shouldn’t get by without. Food is becoming more and more of a technology, but it still makes us who we are, and we can’t get by just throwing it away. It’d be interesting to have a class on food resources plan a best by picnic party, where all the food passed it’s date, but still finds its way to a mouth to feed.

 Picture Source: (http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/01/second-life-what-happens-to-old-and-expired-supermarket-products/251052/)