Here in the US they have Use by: Best by: and Sell by: I think the Best by designation is what would be used for most food. That just means for the best flavor, use it by, but it's not going bad. I'm always annoyed by the Sell by date because it's meaningless to me. I rarely care about the Use by unless it's meat. Cream here usually has a Sell by date and Yogurt can go well past any date on the carton. Canned goods are good for centuries if they're undamaged. (Might be loaded with BPAs, but if one's eating a canned good decades old, they probably don't care. LOL