In some cases, like water, it's more about when the plastic will start noticeably altering the taste and properties of the food

That's why EU or at least Finland at least used to have separate labels; "best before" and "use by".

One was like "this might lose some quality after the date" and one is "please don't eat it, it might be dangerous".

Although the latter was still always erred on the sage side. Whereas grandma dismissed the bunch and just sliced the mold off the cheese and ate what was underneath. And it wasn't blue cheese — originally.

And rue the day if I threw out old milk instead of letting her make some home made cheese or smth.

In Germany, the best before date is not required for things like spices, and other food that will still be consumable even decades after packaging.

One upside is that 250mil years ago nobody threw plastic in the ocean, so not microplastics unlike seasalt

Was it sold as pure NaCl? Probably not...

But at least it doesn't have any chemicals. /s

It's not cool to call homosexual salt "contaminated"

While that is true, I'm still pretty salty about it

Barium salts might last a bit longer - and there's no "best before" on most salts of nitric acids. They certainly were best before you spotted them...

In the US at least the dates are made up and inconsistent, like having best by, expires, and use by which all mean different things and are not regulated. For the most part they are about the taste and texture of the food, not food safety.

There is only one food product which does require a date in the US.

Does Federal Law Require Food Product Dating?

Except for infant formula, product dating is not required by federal regulations.

The expiration dates on things that do not spoil like salt were added by capitalists who want you to throw it out so you will buy more. It is abusing the voluntary made up and inconsistent date labeling capitalists came up with to weasel out of being regulated.

Other countries have regulations, but odds are that they don't apply to salt.

While that's true, most products have a "best by" date instead of an expiration. I worked for a company that bought items past that date from major retailers and resold it at.a discount.

Hilariously best by dates aren't actually enforced by any agency or department so I don't believe anyone is legally obligated to discard it. The dates are a best guess by manufacturers, the determination if something is actually spoiled is up to the end user.

https://youtu.be/4GDLaYrMCFo

My understanding is that there is no actual reason to think companies could be sued or get in legal trouble for donating expired goods, despite the common misconception otherwise.

I vote for "Stop Buying Shit"; double meaning of don't buy shitty things, and alternative things you can use instead of buying... shit.

I watch a couple of dude's at Lowe's uncapping and draining several hundred bottles of Powerade because they were past expiration.

Liquids in plastic bottles go bad after a while due to the plastic leeching. This was probably the right call.

Many people here have posted the link to Climate Town's video on expiration dates, but your comment also brings into focus a video of theirs about consumer waste. Actually he's probably made a few on that subject, but the one that came to mind was about the circle of buying and returning products (eg. Amazon returns), and what really happens. Good lord, the waste.

That's a money saver vs. "donated" or "sold at discount".

Food banks that I'm familiar with won't distribute expired food because it's a liability. Of course there is a big difference between "expired" salt and meat, but it's safer for them to have a blanket policy than count on the workers' judgement.

Honestly the sea salt I have I have to basically dry out in a cup.

I'm pretty sure they add like 1-2% moisture by weight. I've literally weighed it during the last few days and it's lost >5g from my measured 460g. That's around 1%. I'll see if it loses more.

Yep, the plastic dissolves

Many places in the world mandate expiration dates on food items, no matter what the item in question actually is.

Water in a glass bottle? Expires in 24 months.

You're not wrong. Spice did control our world for awhile. Salt was and still is a big part of that.