Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
User submission
This Farmer Explains Food Expiration So That People Wouldn’t Throw Away Items That Are Still Edible
Interview
It goes without saying that wasting food is bad. Bad for the environment, bad for you on a moral as well as financial level, and just pure disrespectful towards food and the farmers who spent months or even years growing it.
And this very charismatic farmer brings it home with his now-viral TikTok video explaining how the food industry is shortening the expiration date, which is actually a “peak freshness” date and not the last day that you can drink that milk, Tim.
More Info: TikTok
RELATED:
Virtually all food has an expiration date, but, turns out, it’s not really an ‘expiration date’ per se
Image credits: haydenjfox
Meet Hayden Fox, a farmer from Canada with whom Bored Panda got in touch for an interview. He’s been making headlines with his explanation on why you shouldn’t throw away your food just because it’s the last or even several days beyond the expiration date.
The video is actually in response to another TikToker, one rizzzy.rizzz who said that if there’s an expiration date on a food item, he ain’t gonna eat it past the date.
So, enter Hayden, who with his charming charisma scoffs at the claim and demands the dude not waste food for one very simple reason: it’s not actually bad.
Farmer and TikToker Hayden Fox explains what the expiration date really is—a “peak freshness date”
Image credits: haydenjfox
“When I saw a TikTok with thousands of comments that read something along the line of ‘I would never eat something past its expiration date’ my heart sunk,” explained Hayden. “People have lost touch with where their food comes from and processors and retailers prey on this lack of information.”
He continues: “I’ve worked my entire life growing food, pouring my heart and soul into every grain that comes off the field. I didn’t put all that effort in just for the food to be thrown out.”
According to Hayden, people are being lied to by the food companies about the expiration date. It’s not really an expiration date, but rather a “peak freshness” date, meaning that the food is best until that date, but it’s not bad after it. And for quite a while, depending on the food.
Image credits: haydenjfox
This is all done, as claims Hayden, so that the big fat cats in these food industry corporations can line their pockets with more money. How? Cause you get rid of what you didn’t eat and go get more almost immediately!
And it seems that this is a universal thing, regardless of country: “Most of the food here in Canada comes from around the world, including the USA, and this misconception around expiration dates is present worldwide.”
Image credits: haydenjfox
Image credits: haydenjfox
Oh, wait, there’s more—expiration dates are just one of many things that are misleading on food packaging, as explains Hayden:
“Adding misleading labels is a big one! For example, it’s impossible for strawberries to be genetically modified, but many times you can see GMO printed on the packaging. This allows grocery stores to charge more for the exact same product. Packing companies will add stickers like ‘gluten free’ or ‘sugar free’ when the food never contained these components to begin with.”
He continues: “Also, there is a very fine line between whether something can be classified as organic or not. Many times the foods that are labeled organic or are sold as organic have no real value added to consumers, other than the perception.”
Image credits: haydenjfox
Image credits: haydenjfox
And while the percentage of how much food is actually wasted varies between 40% and 60% depending on who you ask, it’s still a significant amount of food that, at the end of the day, should not be wasted at all.
Hayden also elaborates on the issue:
“There are two sections of the food industry. The producers and suppliers and the retailers and sellers of food. Producers of the food are always looking to increase production, and this comes at a very steep cost, meaning food waste is very costly to the producer. On the other hand, sellers need the food to have quick turnover as storage, transportation, and shelf space is very costly.”
Image credits: haydenjfox
Image credits: haydenjfox
“‘Most consumers mistakenly believe that expiration dates on food indicate how safe the food is to consume’ (CNN) and retailers don’t do anything to help change consumers’ perceptions. This correlation between expiration date and safety is false! The expiration date does not indicate whether there is a risk of food poisoning or increased chance of illness from consumption.”
The video was viewed by over 1.6 million people and liked by over 356,000 of them. The sudden viralness of the video came as a surprise to Hayden. He was shocked to see a lot of people as passionate about food waste as he is.
Image credits: haydenjfox
Image credits: haydenjfox
“Helping educate so many consumers on exactly how their food gets from the farm to the table makes me feel like a kid taking a ride in a tractor for the first time. This felt like the first tractor ride, but in the most shiny, biggest, baddest tractor around,” elaborated Hayden.
“I wish people could see the work that goes into every bite of food they take. It’s easy to throw something out when we don’t appreciate the true value of it. We generate enough food to feed the entire world, but yet millions of people go hungry every day because we constantly waste the food we have.”
Image credits: haydenjfox
Check out the full video below
@haydenjfox##stitch with @rizzzy.rizzz just another farmer on a rant pt.🥛 ##yourfood##farming##country♬ original sound – Hayden Fox
You can check out more of his videos by visiting his TikTok channel, or you can just follow him on Instagram. But before you go, let us know what you thought about this in the comments section below!
Here’s how people reacted to this video
276Kviews
Share on Facebook What do you think ?
Shelp 4 years ago
In my country, we can have two different dates on our products: the "best before" expiration date, and the "this is not a suggestion if you eat it later you might die" expiration date
cassiushumanmother 4 years ago
Sometimes i would not even care "this is not a suggestion if you eat it later you might die"on some meat to make a stew. Cooked for hours in wine, spices, onions, garlic... no bacteria would resist more than 10 minutes boiling, a stew boil for hours. Perfectly fine to eat some slighly smelly meat in a good stew. That's why beef bourguignon and many stews around the world were invented: killing bacterias and adding flavors to old meat.
Load More Replies...
JennyLaRue 4 years ago
I generally ignore the use by date and go by smell, look, whether it's fizzy (and shouldn't be) or whether the pack has blown. Hasn't steered me wrong yet!
John C 4 years ago
This 1000x. Our sense of smell and taste (and our corresponding disgust reaction) have been finely tuned through natural selection to detect spoiled food. I'll trust my own senses over a for-profit company's "expiration" date, thankyouverymuch. And I'll also point out I've poured milk down the drain that was still in date, just as I've drank milk that's weeks beyond its expiration.
Load More Replies...
N G 4 years ago
Sell by, Best Before and Use by are all different. Sell by is not meant for the end user. Best Before is peak freshness and you can totally keep using it after this date (assuming it's not gone mouldy or smells bad). Use by, at least in certain countries, is a warning that it may be unsafe to use after this date, it may make you ill. Also, you may have to throw things away before the expiry date if it has been opened for a few days - again, this is the "is it green, does it smell bad" check. I know some people (often of the older generations) will insist food is still good long after the expiry dates, but food processing and preservation methods have changed, and no matter what, cranberry sauce shouldn't rattle, Louise! A bit of common sense goes a long way. Check out the egg freshness test online for examples of what to do if the green/smell check isn't possible.
Commander Rex 4 years ago
Yeah, I think the guy here meant to be talking about “best by” dates.
Load More Replies...
Donkey boi 4 years ago
Coming from a farming family I can tell you straight-up, there is some truth to his message but it isn't detailed enough. It's as brief as saying 'There is a difference between best before and use by'. What he says about the farmers market is true, We take our leftover stock that the commercial companies and local butchers didn't want and sell that. We actually get a really good mark up because they are popular at the moment. Judge your meat on it's appearance, although sometimes they add things that will alter the appearance (usually makes it look worse) but keeps it fresher longer. Most are in sealed packages so you can't go by smell but if the packaging has expanded/inflated, the meat is giving off gases, which means it's no good, but sometimes they inflate the packaging on purpose to stop it getting crushed during transit. Also there are different laws and by-law depending were the meat is coming from and going to and what route it's taking. So like I said, a little complicated.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Yeah. Farm kid here. We canned our own, etc., and the canned tomatoes might be best by... but still fine three months later. As for meat, I'm a vegetarian, can't speak to it, but my fam always went by "freeze it after butchering, the end" b/c the see-saw of temps in a friedge, or in transit? No thanks.
Load More Replies...
birdie asf 4 years ago
when that happened to me and my family, the power-saving feature wasn't working in our refrigerator and caused the temperature to go up to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. you might want to get it checked out.
Load More Replies...
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Please take seriously the proper *storage* of foods. An onion or tater or turnip can last months in the right storage (hint: NOT fridge) but honestly, we home-canned (well, jarred!) and if the color is good, the lid doesn't do the "botulism pop top", and there's no odd smell? It's good to eat. So... Study how to store things. I say all that not b/c I'm a crusader but b/c my hubby ignroed a dairy best-by date and I warned him, and there's some situations NO ONE should ever experience, even secondhand.... !!!
Shelp 4 years ago
In my country, we can have two different dates on our products: the "best before" expiration date, and the "this is not a suggestion if you eat it later you might die" expiration date
cassiushumanmother 4 years ago
Sometimes i would not even care "this is not a suggestion if you eat it later you might die"on some meat to make a stew. Cooked for hours in wine, spices, onions, garlic... no bacteria would resist more than 10 minutes boiling, a stew boil for hours. Perfectly fine to eat some slighly smelly meat in a good stew. That's why beef bourguignon and many stews around the world were invented: killing bacterias and adding flavors to old meat.
Load More Replies... JennyLaRue 4 years ago
I generally ignore the use by date and go by smell, look, whether it's fizzy (and shouldn't be) or whether the pack has blown. Hasn't steered me wrong yet!
John C 4 years ago
This 1000x. Our sense of smell and taste (and our corresponding disgust reaction) have been finely tuned through natural selection to detect spoiled food. I'll trust my own senses over a for-profit company's "expiration" date, thankyouverymuch. And I'll also point out I've poured milk down the drain that was still in date, just as I've drank milk that's weeks beyond its expiration.
Load More Replies... N G 4 years ago
Sell by, Best Before and Use by are all different. Sell by is not meant for the end user. Best Before is peak freshness and you can totally keep using it after this date (assuming it's not gone mouldy or smells bad). Use by, at least in certain countries, is a warning that it may be unsafe to use after this date, it may make you ill. Also, you may have to throw things away before the expiry date if it has been opened for a few days - again, this is the "is it green, does it smell bad" check. I know some people (often of the older generations) will insist food is still good long after the expiry dates, but food processing and preservation methods have changed, and no matter what, cranberry sauce shouldn't rattle, Louise! A bit of common sense goes a long way. Check out the egg freshness test online for examples of what to do if the green/smell check isn't possible.
Commander Rex 4 years ago
Yeah, I think the guy here meant to be talking about “best by” dates.
Load More Replies... Donkey boi 4 years ago
Coming from a farming family I can tell you straight-up, there is some truth to his message but it isn't detailed enough. It's as brief as saying 'There is a difference between best before and use by'. What he says about the farmers market is true, We take our leftover stock that the commercial companies and local butchers didn't want and sell that. We actually get a really good mark up because they are popular at the moment. Judge your meat on it's appearance, although sometimes they add things that will alter the appearance (usually makes it look worse) but keeps it fresher longer. Most are in sealed packages so you can't go by smell but if the packaging has expanded/inflated, the meat is giving off gases, which means it's no good, but sometimes they inflate the packaging on purpose to stop it getting crushed during transit. Also there are different laws and by-law depending were the meat is coming from and going to and what route it's taking. So like I said, a little complicated.
Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Yeah. Farm kid here. We canned our own, etc., and the canned tomatoes might be best by... but still fine three months later. As for meat, I'm a vegetarian, can't speak to it, but my fam always went by "freeze it after butchering, the end" b/c the see-saw of temps in a friedge, or in transit? No thanks.
Load More Replies... birdie asf 4 years ago
when that happened to me and my family, the power-saving feature wasn't working in our refrigerator and caused the temperature to go up to 55 degrees Fahrenheit. you might want to get it checked out.
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 4 years ago
Please take seriously the proper *storage* of foods. An onion or tater or turnip can last months in the right storage (hint: NOT fridge) but honestly, we home-canned (well, jarred!) and if the color is good, the lid doesn't do the "botulism pop top", and there's no odd smell? It's good to eat. So... Study how to store things. I say all that not b/c I'm a crusader but b/c my hubby ignroed a dairy best-by date and I warned him, and there's some situations NO ONE should ever experience, even secondhand.... !!!
Related on Bored Panda
170
83