Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration released results from a 2008 Health and Diet survey indicating that a majority of consumers do, in fact, read food labels because they are beginning to get a better understanding the role proper nutrition plays in lowering the risk of chronic diseases. According to the survey, more consumers “often read labels to determine the amount of calories, salts, vitamins or fat contained in the food products they are buying.” Choosing healthy, safe food is always music to our ears!

But the labels on food packaging can tell us more than just the nutritional content. There is another teensy little label that has a pretty big impact on food safety, especially when it comes to meat and poultry products – the expiration date.

One might think the meaning of an expiration label is self-explanatory, but this is not always the case. Actually, expiration labels are often called “dating labels” – but don’t confuse these with dinner and a movie dates. These labels are used to indicate how long your food should stay fresh.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS), by reading so-called dating labels, we can learn more than the date that the meat goes bad. For example, if you own a grocery store, these labels help you and your employees determine how long to keep products like meat, eggs and cheese available for sale. And before adding a gallon of milk to their carts, shoppers can look to dating labels to see how long the milk will taste its best.

But while these labels are helpful when you’re trying to determine how long you should keep a porterhouse, it’s really important to remember these dates don’t guarantee the food is safe.