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Find the nutrition chronicle of Stéphane Besançon, nutritionist and director of the NGO Santé Diabète in Bamako, Mali. This week, he tells us regarding the date of consumption of food.
What is the expiry date of a food product and how is it determined?
If you observe the packaging of your food products, you will see two types of possible mentions on it: the Use By Date called DLC and the Minimum Durability Date called DDM. The Best Before Date is expressed with the phrase “best before”. DDM is found on products such as cereals (pasta, rice, etc.) but also cans, juices, sauces. Beyond this date the appearance, texture or taste of the product may change, but the consumption of the product will not lead to health risks. The Best Before Date is expressed with the phrase “use by”. The DLC is found on products such as fruits, vegetables, dairy products, but also eggs, meat and fish. Beyond this date, it is important not to consume this product, because the consumption of the product will lead to health risks. It is therefore necessary to respect the rules of conservation and the expiry dates to avoid consequences which can be very serious for health.
What are the repercussions on our health if this is not respected?
There are direct risks to our health leading to food poisoning which is called foodborne illness by the World Health Organization. They represent a set of diseases that are caused by foods that are contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or toxins. It took until 2015 for the World Health Organization to publish data on the extent and severity of these diseases, showing that one in 10 people fall ill from consuming contaminated food and that 420,000 people die from the consequences. of these poisonings. These foodborne illnesses can be acute with a very rapid onset with different types of symptoms such as nausea, vomiting or diarrhea. They can lead to very severe diarrhea which can have dramatic consequences for the patient. They can also lead to diseases that will settle over the longer term, such as cancers, kidney or liver failure and brain or nervous disorders.
First of all, what advice can you give us to better preserve food?
The fridge and freezer are central to keeping all the food that needs to be kept cool or cold. On the other hand, to avoid any health risk, the temperature must absolutely be maintained at a constant temperature of 4 degrees for refrigerators and freezers at -17 degrees. To maintain this temperature, it is necessary to avoid multiplying the openings of the refrigerator as much as possible. Dairy products should be stored in the back of the refrigerator where it is always colder and the temperature fluctuates less. Finally, you have to be careful with hot dishes or foods that you put in the fridge to cool them down. Indeed, hot foods can develop bacteria between 4 and 60 degrees. In theory, these foods should go from 60 to 20 degrees in two hours, then drop to 4 degrees in the next four hours. To speed up this cooling, put the hot food in the smallest and shallowest dish possible to allow a larger surface area to cool the food more quickly.
For products that should not be kept cool, they should be well wrapped and stored in a dry place and protected as much as possible from direct light.
Once you know how to properly store food, what are the rules for properly managing use-by dates?
For products that have a Minimum Durability Date (MDD) they can be consumed following this date without risk. But be careful: for the product to remain good in taste, it must be very well preserved. Now, for products that have a Best Before Date (DLC), you have to be very vigilant and respect the following rules:
- Meat, fish, but also all other seafood products should never be eaten following the use-by date;
- If a product has an expiry date which is very close, which has been reached or which has passed, it should never be frozen;
- There are some products like yogurts that can be eaten a few days following the Best Before Date if their packaging is intact. But for health security, it is necessary to better organize these purchases so as not to keep products with Expired Consumption Dates.
Finally, there are products sold without pre-packaging such as pastries, confectionery, fresh vegetables and fruit. For these products, the rule is to consume them within 24 hours of purchase.
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