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I heard the Japanese food industry is considering to alter the indication of pull date of processed food products from current “by month / day eg, “11/30/2017” to by month, e.g. simply “by November” in order for reducing mounting food wastes. They think consumers who are over-sensitive to pull DATE tend to dispose of food earlier than its reasonable life cycle.

Apart from the argument of its rightness or wrongness of the industry’s proposition, does “Expiration date of (freshness / edibility of) a processed food: by, say, November, (December or January)” make sense in English?

If it does, what is the exact expiration date of “by November” labeling? Is it by October 31th, or November 30th?

Yoichi Oishi
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  • I would say "Expires by November" or "Best before November" – mplungjan Nov 06 '17 at 09:33
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    This already happens in the UK: "Best before the end of November" – Andrew Leach Nov 06 '17 at 09:35
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    U.S. dates include day, month, and year. There are "sell by" dates, "best by" dates, sometimes "use by" dates. There are some things that begin to "go bad"--e.g., fresh milk. There are other things that do not become dangerous but just don't taste very good after a year or so. – Xanne Nov 06 '17 at 09:58
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    If you have a "pull by February 2017" or "sell by February 2017" the cautious people will treat it as February 1, unless you say "end of February". The U.S. system is quite confused, and consumers are not clear on what these things mean. A sell-by date and a pull-by date are instructions to the retail store--when they should no longer sell it. Others are instructions for the consumer--how long it can be kept in the fridge or on the shelf before it goes bad (e.g., gets moldy) or just "goes flat"--loses its flavor. – Xanne Nov 06 '17 at 10:06
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about food labeling, not the English language. – jimm101 Dec 08 '17 at 00:40
  • @Jimm 101. "by" is English language, not Japanese, Chinese, Russian, nor specific labeling lanuage. I found that India government did the same alteration on the exipration date of medicines, and provided elaborate explanation about what is meant by "by (month)." indication. I'm amused to observe a synchronicity of 5 close votes casted in a couple of days after my posting this particular question a month ago. I wouln't protest. It's a fun. – Yoichi Oishi Dec 10 '17 at 02:15

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To give an answer for the UK, which applies EU regulations, the meaning of these terms is defined in law and their use is mandatory.

A full guide is provided by the government here.

To summarize:
Use by is related to safety. The food should not be eaten after this date.
Best before is related to quality. The food is still edible after this date.

Terms like Expiration date may not be used as they are ambiguous.

Chenmunka
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  • Thanks for your imput on Food Standard Agency. It's helpful. I understand U.K. specify date. When you you say “use by November: / best before Novemver," does it mean the food is usable by the end of november and tastes best until Ocober 31? How do you consider "duration," I mean, exact date? – Yoichi Oishi Nov 06 '17 at 21:38
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    @YoichiOishi In general, "by date" includes the specified date itself as part of the range. Otherwise, if you mean to not include the date as part of the range, you would say "before date". If one were to say "use by November" then that would include the entire month of November as safe to consume the item in question. Conversely, "best before November" would mean that as soon as it becomes November, the product's quality can no longer be guaranteed. See also https://english.stackexchange.com/a/56336/143066 – Aiaimai Nov 08 '17 at 21:07