Commercials are meant to pique your interest; in fact, sometimes it’s not the product but the promotion that is effective. Such was the Progressive Insurance skit featuring an aunt screening canned goods for expiration date. I can still see her as she inspected the goods repeating “expired, expired, expired.” An article in the Enid News and Eagle featured an (AP) article scrutinizing “sell by, enjoy b and freshest by” stamps on most products.

Food waste has always been a concern, as has food poisoning, but as prices soar and food insecurity increases, how do manufacturers reach a happy medium on shelf life? This article emphasizes the fact that companies have used the markings for decades on perishable items like meat and dairy, actually encouraging consumers to throw items away that may be perfectly good to eat. My folks, raised in homes with no refrigeration, subject to the Depression, reared long before the “disposable society,” used the “sniff test” to determine fitness for consumption of aging food.

The European Union may remove “best by” labels in the coming year. The United Nations estimates that 17% of global food production is wasted each year in households, and agriculture producers discard an undisclosed amount of produce that “doesn’t look right.” Restaurants are faulted, too, for serving too-large portion sizes. But seven percent of food waste results from discarded food considered “out of date.”

Good advice is hard to give, but from experience, don’t buy out-of-date chips because even good bean dip doesn’t help.