Still good or not? How to read best-before dates

How it works

1. Search for a food at the top or choose a category, for example milk and cheese or store cupboard.
2. Look at the label: “Senses decide”, “Short, with a test” or “Date is the limit”.
3. Tap the entry to open the test from the professional kitchen.

Two dates, two meanings

“Best before” (Mindestens haltbar bis, MHD) is a quality promise from the manufacturer. After that, looking, smelling and tasting decide. If the pack says “use by” (Zu verbrauchen bis), that date is the limit, whatever the food. It is typical on meat, fish, poultry, cold cuts, mozzarella, cream cakes, sprouts and ready-made salads. After that date, do not eat it, even if it smells fine.

A few tests

For eggs, the water test shows their age, not salmonella. If the egg lies flat, it is fresh. If it stands up, it is older: only eat it cooked through, at most about 6 days past the best-before date. If it floats, it has to go. With hard cheese, cut away a mouldy spot generously, about 2 cm. Bread with mould goes completely. Unopened yoghurt is usually fine for 1 to 2 weeks past the best-before date, and water on top is whey. Tins with a bulging lid: throw away without tasting.

Where the information comes from

The information is for your own household. It is based on Swiss food law, guidance from the FSVO (BLV), the FOPH (BAG) and foodwaste.ch (as of October 2026) and a chef's professional practice. It is not official information and not medical advice. If in doubt, throw it out.

For pregnant women, babies, older and ill people, a separate box on the page lists what to avoid or eat only well heated, for example soft cheese, cold cuts, smoked fish and raw eggs. Babies under one get no honey.