The surprising five foods you CAN safely eat past their use by date trends now

You might have heard milk is safe to drink after its use by date.

But are you aware that the same logic applies to eggs, yoghurt and even bread, too?

Best before — rather than use-by dates — already appear on a range of products, like frozen, dried and tinned food.

The Food Standards Agency encourages people to use 'sensory cues' to determine if such food are fine to eat. This includes the old-fashioned 'sniff test', which M&S now says customers should use for its milk after it ditched use-by labels.

However, this approach does not apply to items with a use-by date, as even if it looks and smells fine, it can contain bugs that cause food poisoning. 

But which other foods can you safely eat after their use by date?

Eggs 

More than 700million eggs, costing £139million, are thrown away every year due to over-reliance on 'best before' dates. 

The Food Standards Agency advises eggs are safe to eat for 'a couple of days after' the best before date 'if they are cooked well'.

Another simple way to assess their age is to place them into a bowl of water. 

Fresh eggs sink to the bottom, while bad ones float to the top. 

If the egg rests on the bottom and tilts upwards, it's a sign it's going off and should be eaten as soon as possible. 

The older an egg is, the longer air has been entering the shell and making it buoyant. 

Bread

The best before date on bread is based on the assumption that you'll leave it out on the kitchen counter.

If left out, exposed to higher temperatures, mould is more likely to form quickly, within a few days. 

But storing your loaf in the fridge can extend its shelf life for up to two weeks, according to the US Department of Agriculture.  

It may taste a little harder because as bread starts to cool, water leaves the starch and moves into other parts of the mixture.

This allows starch molecules to return to their crystallized state. It happens even in humid conditions but the fridge can speed up the process. 

To extend its shelf life further, toss it in the freezer. This will keep the bread good for consumption for at least three months. 

Yoghurt

Yoghurt made under sterile conditions and still in an unopened tub in the fridge should generally still be safe after a fortnight. 

But once opened, other micro-organisms such as listeria can quickly colonise it, putting you at risk of food poisoning. 

Normally Greek yoghurt must be consumed within seven days once opened.  

In April the Co-op followed in the footsteps of Sainsbury's and Asda by announcing it was removing use-by dates from its own-brand yoghurt in an attempt to address the problem of millions of pots that are still safe to eat being wasted each year. 

The supermarket encouraged shoppers instead to 'use their judgement', with best before dates replacing use by dates. 

At the time, head of food safety at the Co-op Nick Cornwell said: 'Yoghurt can be safe to eat if stored unopened in a fridge after the date mark shown, so we have made the move to best-before dates to help reduce food waste.

'The acidity of yoghurt acts as a natural defence. We'd encourage shoppers to use their judgment on the quality of their yoghurt if it is past the best-before date,' he added. 

In the same month, Tesco also confirmed it would scrap use by dates on 30 of its own-brand dairy products including Greek Style Yogurt, Creamfields Greek Style Yogurt and Creamfields Berry Medley Low Fat Yogurt. 

Chocolate 

The little water content in chocolate helps it stay fresh beyond its best before date.  

But it can often develop a white coating, known as the 'bloom', when it's exposed to the air. 

This happens when some of the crystalline fat melts and rises to the top. It's not mould and it's fine to eat. 

If you want to keep your chocolate fresh for as long as possible, it’s important to store it correctly. 

Keeping it at a consistent temperature in a cupboard or pantry away from direct sunlight and properly wrapped in foil will help keep your chocolate tasting great past its best before. 

But contrary to popular belief, the fridge isn’t actually the best place for your chocolate. 

The extreme temperature changes can cause the sugar and fat blooms. 

Biscuits 

Like crisps, biscuits are also highly processed and thus can be consumed long after their sell-by date - especially if let unopened. 

If they taste soft or soggy simply pop them in the oven to get them crunchy again. 

To restore crispness, place them on a paper towel on top of a plate and microwave them for 40 seconds.

This helps evaporate the moisture that's made them go a little soggy - allow them to cool before you eat. 

According to the charity Waste & Resources Action Programme (Wrap), unopened biscuits and cereal can be eaten weeks after the best before date. 

So would YOU trust the sniff test? As supermarkets start scrapping use-by dates and advise shoppers to 'use their noses', SARAH RAINEY puts the old-fashioned method on trial 

How much food have you thrown away this week? Go on, be honest.

A study by Tesco found that the average British family wastes £800 worth of food a year, with half a million people binning perfectly edible produce on a daily basis.

Potatoes are the most wasted food in this country, closely followed by bread and milk.

But what if we could change this, by returning to the old-fashioned way of working out whether food has gone bad: the sniff test?

Today, M&S revealed it would swap use-by dates for best before dates on its own-brand milk. Morrisons did the same thing last January and last June the Co-op scrapped use-by dates on its yoghurts.

The retailers are asking shoppers to use their noses to tell whether food is good to eat — a move they say could save more than £370million in wasted dairy.

A century ago, this was how everyone did it; expiration dates didn't appear until the 1930s. Dr Laura Brown, senior lecturer in nutrition, food and health sciences at Teesside University, says the sniff test can still work today — but advises caution.

The difference, she explains, is between use-by dates — which concern food safety — and best-before dates, about quality. 'For foods with a best-before date, you can use sight, taste or smell to see if the products have gone off,' she says. However, when it comes to use-by dates: 'We cannot always smell the bugs that can cause food poisoning.'

Here, SARAH RAINEY investigates how long it takes our favourite foods to fail the sniff test after their expiry date. 

THE EXPERIMENT

I stocked up on everyday essentials, including dairy, meat, fruit and veg. I bought two of each item, both with identical use-by or best-before dates, and unless directed otherwise stored them in the fridge. The day after its expiration date passed, I opened one of each item and sniffed it. My husband, neighbour and (brutally honest) toddler acted as 'independent sniffers', to make the test objective.

I repeated the test daily, carefully re-sealing each item in cling film.

When the smell turned bad, I opened the second item, to check if it had lasted longer if the packaging had remained sealed. In every case, by the time the open item had gone off, the sealed one had turned just as bad, too. Here are the rest of the eye-opening results . . .

VANILLA YOGHURT

STORED: In the fridge.

SAFE TO SNIFF? Yes — I've selected a Co-op yoghurt, the very product on which use-by dates will be scrapped.

DAY 1 AFTER USE-BY DATE: Looks and smells delicious. 'Yoghurt usually lasts for at least a few days after its expiration date and up to a week after opening the container if it is sealed tightly,' says Dr Brown.

DAY 7: There's a thin, watery layer on top but the yoghurt underneath — I brave a small spoonful — smells of vanilla and tastes creamy.