"My in-laws are obscenely cheap and often keep food that has expired well beyond the "best by" date. I wouldn't care about this, except my kids go over there after school, and I never know how fresh the food they are being served is. We rely heavily on my in-laws to watch our kids during the school year while we are at work."
"Experts tend to agree that most food is actually OK for a while past its expiration date. I don't personally embrace this. I'm one of those people who can't recover once the thought "Is this still good?" enters my mind, even if there's nothing to indicate that the food has gone bad. But I know a lot of people look for signs of spoilage rather than adhering strictly to expiration dates, and I assume they don't get food poisoning all the time."
"I'm encouraged that your kids haven't gotten sick yet and that your husband did, in fact, make it through his childhood without any major incidents. Maybe his parents are serving food that is less than 100 percent fresh, but still in a safe range. In any case, instead of focusing on expiration dates, why don't you train your children to politely refuse to eat anything that smells off or has an unusual appearance?"
Many foods remain safe for some time after printed expiration dates, though perceptions of freshness vary. The children's guardian keeps food past 'best by' dates, and parents worry about freshness. Children have not become ill so far. Training children to politely refuse food that smells off or looks unusual reduces risk without forcing adults to change long-established habits. Securing the agreement that children may say 'no thank you' if they dislike an offered item can be more effective than confronting caregivers about refrigerator-cleaning practices.
Read at Slate Magazine
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