Eli5: What happens to a food product when it expires?

Question

And how do you tell an expiry date

In: 1

Answer 1

It has simply reached the point where it’s quality is not up to sellable standard. There is no regulation, at least in the USA, on what expiration dates even mean. There’s sell by, use by, best by, etc. It is entirely possible for the product to be perfectly edible for some time post expiration. The key here is that none of these mean the product is magically bad on that date.