Follow the date meant for you. Use by beats everything else. Next come best by and EXP. A sell-by date is for the store, and a packed-on or MFG date only tells you how old the food is.
If a label has two dates that are both meant for you, go by the earlier one. If only a sell-by or packed-on date is there, use the food's storage time counted from the day you bought it.
Which date to follow: the decision table
| The label shows | Follow | What the other date is for |
|---|---|---|
| SELL BY + USE BY | Use by | Sell by is the store's stock-rotation date. Buy before it; eat or freeze by the use-by date. |
| PACKED ON + BEST BY (or MFG + EXP) | Best by (or EXP) | The packed-on or MFG date is when it was made. Useful for age and recalls, not for planning meals. |
| PACKED ON + SELL BY (store-packed meat) | Neither directly: days from purchase | Cook or freeze raw poultry and ground meat within 1–2 days of buying it; steaks, chops and roasts within 3–5 days. |
| BEST BY + FREEZE BY | Best by if you're keeping it in the fridge; freeze by if you're freezing it | Freeze by is the last day to freeze it and still get good quality after thawing. |
| USE BY + FREEZE BY, or USE OR FREEZE BY | The same day for both | One deadline: eat it or get it into the freezer by then. |
| BEST BY + USE BY | The earlier of the two, usually use by | Rare, but if both appear, the stricter date governs. |
| Month-only date + a full date (BB 03/2027 and 2026-09-14) | The date with the phrase next to it | A full date with no phrase, often near a lot code, is usually the production date. A month-only best-by date is commonly read as the last day of that month; FreshScan does this and flags it. |
| Two dates, no words | Storage time from purchase | You can't tell which is which, so don't bet on either. |
Why one package has two dates
Each date on a label answers a different question for a different reader:
- The store wants to know when to pull stock. That's the sell-by date, which USDA says is for “inventory management” and “is not a safety date.”
- You want to know when to eat it. That's the best-by, use-by or EXP date.
- Inspectors and recall teams want to trace a lot. That's the pack date or production code, which federal rules require on poultry and on canned meat and poultry.
Federal rules also explain why the words matter. If a poultry label shows a calendar date, a phrase explaining it, such as “packing” date, “sell by” or “use before,” has to appear immediately next to the date (9 CFR 381.129). The phrase, not the position on the package, tells you which date is which. For the meaning of every phrase, see sell by vs use by vs best by.
Two dates will become more common in California. Under AB 660, starting July 1, 2026, a grocery store may label food it prepares or repackages with “packed on” only if that food also carries a quality date (BEST if Used by) or a safety date (USE by). The packed-on date on those items is never the one to follow. See California's date label law.
Three cases that trip people up
The store sticker and the maker's print disagree
Repackaged deli items and marked-down meat often have a printed date from the manufacturer and a sticker from the store. Read each one with the phrase attached. If both are consumer dates (a use-by on the sticker and a use-by in the print), follow the earlier one.
The dates are in different formats
SELL BY 10/02 next to USE BY 04.10.26 is not a contradiction. The second date is day-first, meaning October 4. When a numeric date could be read two ways, the guide to month-first vs day-first dates has the clues to look for.
The packed-on date is the only readable one
Then it's the only date you have. Count forward using the storage time for that food, as explained in packed-on dates vs expiration dates.
Try a two-date label
The expiration date decoder has a SELL BY + USE BY example and a PACKED ON + BEST BY example. Tap one, or type your own label line by line. When it finds more than one date, it shows each with its type and asks which one you want to track, the same way the app does.
FreshScan asks instead of guessing
Picking one date from a label with two is where guessing goes wrong, so FreshScan doesn't guess. When the camera finds two different dates, such as a sell-by and a use-by, the confirmation card lists both with their types and asks which to track. Packed-on, MFG and production dates, and lot numbers, are scored down so they aren't offered as the expiry date. If a numeric date could be read two ways, like 03/04/27, you see both readings.
Scan labels like these in seconds. Point your iPhone at the package, pick the date that matters when there are two, and FreshScan reminds you at 9:00 AM two days before and on the day. Everything stays on your phone, with no account.
Free on theApp StoreThe app reads and tracks the printed date. It doesn't decide whether food is safe to eat. For that, use the storage guidance in the shelf life chart and, when in doubt, throw it out.
Questions people ask
If a package says sell by and use by, which one is the expiration date?
The use-by date. The sell-by date tells the store when to pull the product from the shelf. The use-by date is the last day the maker recommends eating it, so that's the one to plan around.
Should I just go by the earlier date to be safe?
Not always. The earlier date is often a packed-on or manufacturing date, which has usually passed by the time you buy the food. Go by the phrase printed next to each date. If two dates are both meant for you, such as a best-by and a use-by, follow the earlier of those two.
What if the two dates are in different formats?
That's common when a store sticker sits next to the manufacturer's print. Read each date on its own, check which phrase it belongs to, and watch for numeric dates that could be month-first or day-first, such as 03/04/27.
What if neither date has any words next to it?
You can't be sure which is which. A date that has already passed is almost certainly when the food was made. Rather than trusting the other date, use the storage time for that food, counted from the day you bought it.
Sources
- Food Product Dating — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
- 9 CFR 381.129: False or misleading labeling or containers (calendar dates on poultry) — Code of Federal Regulations, via Cornell Legal Information Institute
- How long is meat or poultry safe to use after the sell-by date? — USDA FSIS (Ask USDA)
- Refrigerator & Freezer Storage Chart — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- AB 660 (Irwin, 2024): Food and beverage products: labeling: quality dates, safety dates, and sell-by dates — California Legislative Information