When you purchase food items at your local grocery store, you may notice a printed sell by date, use by date or best before date on the packaging or item itself and wonder what that date really means. Here at Eat By Date, we are doing our best to make sure that you, the conscious consumer, are fully informed about true “shelf life” of the most popular food items. As we have learned, most food is still edible after the expiration date. When reviewing the printed date on the food item in question, you may find it interesting to learn that: