That might be fine for a carton of eggs or milk but most things now days have heaps of ingredients in them.
The problem with this is you have to know enough to be able to make that determination.
How long does a ingredient last, when in a specific type of container at a specific temperature (ie shelf vs refrigerated vs frozen), when prepared in a specific way (ie eaten raw, microwaved for a few minutes, cooked at a high temperature for an hour)? Now figure it out for every ingredient in the container. For all your food.
Some of them can be Food Additive E1424.
How does a specific preservative effect the life time of ingredients.
Even if I had a massive lookup table it would be a pain.
EDIT: Here in Australia "used by" indicates the health and safety:
"use-by date, in relation to a package of food, means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period if stored in accordance with any stated storage conditions, after which the intact package of food should not be consumed because of health or safety reasons."
http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2012C00762
We also have best befoure for quality. And baked on/for dates for bread.
The problem with this is you have to know enough to be able to make that determination.
How long does a ingredient last, when in a specific type of container at a specific temperature (ie shelf vs refrigerated vs frozen), when prepared in a specific way (ie eaten raw, microwaved for a few minutes, cooked at a high temperature for an hour)? Now figure it out for every ingredient in the container. For all your food.
Some of them can be Food Additive E1424.
How does a specific preservative effect the life time of ingredients.
Even if I had a massive lookup table it would be a pain.
EDIT: Here in Australia "used by" indicates the health and safety: "use-by date, in relation to a package of food, means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period if stored in accordance with any stated storage conditions, after which the intact package of food should not be consumed because of health or safety reasons." http://www.comlaw.gov.au/Details/F2012C00762
We also have best befoure for quality. And baked on/for dates for bread.