Sell By Dates and Other Devils

I may only have a few minutes... I have just consumed a whole 4-ounce container of Breakstone 2% Cottage Cheese that was dated April 9, 2008.

Yeah. I saw that "sell by" date and I still ripped into that bad boy. And you know what? It was good and I'd do it again. That's the kind of rebel I am. I'm riding shotgun with the demon food poisoning. I'm strung out on the hard stuff. Ooooo, the colors!

How helpful is a "sell by" date, anyway? "Use by", sure, but "sell by"? It's more a challenge to the stores: can you sell this before this date or will you have to restock the shelves? Yeah, I check "sell by" dates and given a choice between April 1 and April 9, I'll grab the April 9. But I don't get crazy over them. If the product looks good (maintains consistency and color with no unsightly bulges) and passes the all important "smell" test, I'm eating it.

Perhaps more important labeling is to know how to crack the codes on those tiny little (and by the way, edible) fruit/veg labels: four digits for conventionally grown, five digits beginning with 9 for organic, and five digits beginning with 8 for genetically modified. Beware the mutant 8s!! Now, that's a bad trip. Repeat after me, "It starts with an 8, it's not on my plate!"