For some stupid shit reason, there is a legal limit for “best before” dates like that. You are not allowed to put a best before date that is more than IIRC three years after packaging.
Salt is the number one victim of this stupidity by far, if packaged properly it will still be usable salt a million years in the future.
But some other food items are definitely good after more than three years. Some tinned goods, or rice, pasta, dried legumes, honey, sugar.
In some cases, like water, it’s more about when the plastic will start noticeably altering the taste and properties of the food
That’s why EU or at least Finland at least used to have separate labels; “best before” and “use by”.
One was like “this might lose some quality after the date” and one is “please don’t eat it, it might be dangerous”.
Although the latter was still always erred on the sage side. Whereas grandma dismissed the bunch and just sliced the mold off the cheese and ate what was underneath. And it wasn’t blue cheese — originally.
And rue the day if I threw out old milk instead of letting her make some home made cheese or smth.
In Germany, the best before date is not required for things like spices, and other food that will still be consumable even decades after packaging.
This isn’t true, the best by dates are not regulated by law. They are entirely voluntary.
I wish I knew every law in every country like you.
omgg hi hoshino
250000000 years old! Ground salt uncontaminated by microplastics unlike sea salt!
PACKAGES IT IN CHEAP PLASTIC CONTAINER…
100% uncontaminated
IT’S PINK! It’s definitely contaminated. Maybe it’s got other things things you want in there, but that’s still contamination. It’s not pure salt.
One upside is that 250mil years ago nobody threw plastic in the ocean, so not microplastics unlike seasalt
It’s in a plastic container and was processed by heavy machinery. There’s definitely micro plastics and other fine particle contamination in there.
Looks like it’s in a plastic container
Was it sold as pure NaCl? Probably not…
Would be cooler if it was.
But at least it doesn’t have any chemicals. /s
It’s not cool to call homosexual salt “contaminated”
We all know salt every salt has 249999998 years before it expires. I mean it’s common sense
While that is true, I’m still pretty salty about it
Barium salts might last a bit longer - and there’s no “best before” on most salts of nitric acids. They certainly were best before you spotted them…
Expiration dates on salt and water are funny and all, but expiration dates exist because capitalists would disguise spoiled food to maximize profit. And it takes an enforcement regime to make them care about their customer’s health. Wasted food is still preferable to wasted life.
These regulations didn’t fall out of a coconut tree.
In the US at least the dates are made up and inconsistent, like having best by, expires, and use by which all mean different things and are not regulated. For the most part they are about the taste and texture of the food, not food safety.
There is only one food product which does require a date in the US.
Does Federal Law Require Food Product Dating?
Except for infant formula, product dating is not required by federal regulations.
The expiration dates on things that do not spoil like salt were added by capitalists who want you to throw it out so you will buy more. It is abusing the voluntary made up and inconsistent date labeling capitalists came up with to weasel out of being regulated.
Other countries have regulations, but odds are that they don’t apply to salt.
While that’s true, most products have a “best by” date instead of an expiration. I worked for a company that bought items past that date from major retailers and resold it at.a discount.
Seriously, the reason for the expiration date is pure salt draws moisture even though packaged and starts to cake. Most people don’t want lumpy salt, thus the expiration date.
Honestly the sea salt I have I have to basically dry out in a cup.
I’m pretty sure they add like 1-2% moisture by weight. I’ve literally weighed it during the last few days and it’s lost >5g from my measured 460g. That’s around 1%. I’ll see if it loses more.
Idiots will throw this in the trash. Businesses will as well.
I watch a couple of dude’s at Lowe’s uncapping and draining several hundred bottles of Powerade because they were past expiration. Working retail really got me educated in all the waste in our system. (Someone will scream, “caPiTaLisM!”. No, it’s a legal/liability thing. And it’s dumb.)
Purchase a thing. Any thing. See all the plastic you brought home? There was 2-3x that much in delivering it to you before you took it off the shelf.
Been wanting to start a comm on “stop buying shit, here are alternatives”. Taking votes for names. I could spend a week posting things I’ve actually done.
EDIT: Should note: Trashing goods = tax write off. That’s a money saver vs. “donated” or “sold at discount”. Yes, it’s cheaper to throw shit away than to sell, even at a deep discount.
Hilariously best by dates aren’t actually enforced by any agency or department so I don’t believe anyone is legally obligated to discard it. The dates are a best guess by manufacturers, the determination if something is actually spoiled is up to the end user.
If anything it’s more of a quality control thing.
It’s the difference between “I bought frozen peas that expire in 6 months and they’re all freezer burned - I want a refund!” And “the frozen peas I forgot about that expired 2 years ago are freezer burned - I want a refund!” One of them is more likely to get their money back than the other.
Also the quality of certain canned foods deteriorates after a time. Some things get mushy or the color changes weirdly that make it unappetizing, so dates can be a good reference. That said, I’ve been utilizing food banks for the last 25+ years. Expiration dates don’t scare me, but they do inform.
It could be a liability thing though. An organization that sells expired product might be in for bigger judgements if something does happen.
But who determines if it’s expired? Obviously if they’re a resteraunt they have their own guidelines in order to adhere to the heath department, but what happens to goods with no best by date? The most I could see happening to an establishment is the being compelled to void the transaction or replace the item under some kind of anti scam ordinance.
I watch a couple of dude’s at Lowe’s uncapping and draining several hundred bottles of Powerade because they were past expiration.
Liquids in plastic bottles go bad after a while due to the plastic leeching. This was probably the right call.
My understanding is that there is no actual reason to think companies could be sued or get in legal trouble for donating expired goods, despite the common misconception otherwise.
When I worked at a Hollywood Video (so a long time ago) we were told we had to discard expired concession products because of chargebacks. Part of the chargeback process was destroying the product because the business was getting credit for it from the supplier/manufacturer.
I believe if you process it as a chargeback and donate it, you’d be committing fraud.
You’d also be committing something nice for hungry people. Depends on what you want to commit to honestly
Yep, and you could shoplift food from a grocery store and donate it, or cheat on your taxes and use the extra money to buy food to donate, or donate the money directly.
Personally, I think it would be better to change the system. Perhaps a program that incentivizes a business to donate the food instead of charging it back or incentivizing the supplier/manufacturer to require anything usable they get a chargeback for from a business be donated or destroyed.
People shouldn’t have to forced to choose between doing the moral thing or the legal thing.
I vote for “Stop Buying Shit”; double meaning of don’t buy shitty things, and alternative things you can use instead of buying… shit.
Buy it for life® ?
That’s a money saver vs. “donated” or “sold at discount”.
Food banks that I’m familiar with won’t distribute expired food because it’s a liability. Of course there is a big difference between “expired” salt and meat, but it’s safer for them to have a blanket policy than count on the workers’ judgement.
Many people here have posted the link to Climate Town’s video on expiration dates, but your comment also brings into focus a video of theirs about consumer waste. Actually he’s probably made a few on that subject, but the one that came to mind was about the circle of buying and returning products (eg. Amazon returns), and what really happens. Good lord, the waste.
One of the communities I miss from reddit is r/ZeroWaste
We got you covered: !zerowaste@slrpnk.net
It’s a legal thing that makes someone liable for it because they live in a capitalist society… Which is dumb. The entire economic chain is built by and for capitalism. For some people to capitalise and excrete on the planet. Let people scream capitalism in anger if they want. It has killed more than all religions and posing now as a threat to the continued existence of humanity. I don’t think it deserves any kind of slack
Acting like capitalism is no part of this and what drives the “legal thing” is a bit naive.
It’s so stupid that they waste it like that. I can only assume that somebody didn’t want to be bothered with donating it to a food bank. Seriously though, the amount of time it would take to uncap and pour all that out as opposed to making a couple phone calls. SMH
A lot of managers would rather dump the product than let someone benefit from it for free.
It’s not even their product if it works the same everywhere as it does around me. Home depot stores are part of bottle distribution routes and a sales person or merchandiser will handle the stock.
Got any examples on the comm idea? You made me curious
Was only looking for a good name for the comm. I can go from there. :)
Of course it’s capitalism. Companies do dumb shit to avoid getting sued
edit: my bad. Actually, these companies are being overly cautious because they care about you. LOL
Doesn’t that have to do with the container?
Yep, the plastic dissolves
So now the salt is full of microplastics? Well, so am I. Come on in and join the rest.
One of us! One of us!
Gooble Gobble!
On salt?
It depolymerizes on water, but salt is extremely hydrophilic and stops that process down.
Table salt has an expiration date from the secant that keeps it as a powder, but the one in the picture doesn’t have it either.
Many places in the world mandate expiration dates on food items, no matter what the item in question actually is.
Water in a glass bottle? Expires in 24 months.
A lot of these laws have to do with expected lifetime in “worst plausible storage conditions”, like poorly sealed boxes and wrong temperature and humidity
Yup, each batch needs to be stored in controlled conditions for the entire length of the expiration period. Many times the product expiration period is much longer, but controlled storage isn’t cheap, so just companies just do the minimum required by them.
Bet it has more to do with salt caking up and getting nasty appearing than anything else other than just a legal requirement. Also I think that’s a “best by” date not an expiration.
He who controls the salt. Controls the universe
You’re not wrong. Spice did control our world for awhile. Salt was and still is a big part of that.
Amazing, Trump was right, they were trading in salt rocks.
Food grade salt stored in the plastic container 🤦
Can’t eat it now!
What exactly happens to salt that makes it “expired”? Some sort of mould from the air growing on it or something?
Nothing should make it expire. It’s literally a rock.
It’s literally a rock that will preserve things
It’s a ‘best by’ date, which just means that the manufacturer won’t guarantee quality past that date.
Over time the salt crystals will fuse together (form clumps) because of moisture in the air. Sugar does the same thing. The clumps can be easily broken up and are still perfectly edible, but clumps in new product would be considered a quality issue.
Edit: this is an educated guess as what that best before date means, but I’m actually not a 100% certain. I’m not from the sector.
The comapny just wants you to throw it out and buy more if you haven’t used it fast enough for them.
If enough humidity over time gets in there, the salt can start caking and forming larger crystal clumps. However, the salt itself isn’t damaged by that process and will work fine if broken back up and used in the quality you need.
A best by date here would be a notice from the manufacturer that the product should be shelf stable at least that long before “degrading”.
Quiet you. These artificial expiration dates are the only way I can ever clean out the pantry without my SO freaking out.
Highly relevant
