Exact Answer: Within one to two weeks of the expiration date
Expiration dates are quality warnings, not safety warnings. Research has proved that you can still eat food after its expiry date. Each state has its own expiration date. Each company has a different expiration date according to the kind of products they sell. Dairy products have longer expiry dates than other food. If you keep your refrigerator at 34 degrees Celsius, chances are you can store your dairy products for more than a week from the expiry date.
How Long After Use By Date Is Yogurt Good?
Yogurts are a little different from other dairy products. Some people, though might sound strange, prefer expired yogurts. Some say that expired yogurts do not do you any harm. But to be on the safer side, it is best to eat yogurt within a week after the expiry date. Doing a smell test is the best way to test if the yogurt is still eatable. Yogurt is spoiled milk in the first place, so eating it after a week or two after the expiry date, is not going to do you any harm.
If you see an extra layer of Mould or some discoloration in your yogurt, it’s better you throw that can of yogurt and replace it with a new one. There are three different kinds of expiry dates for you to consider.
| Types | What it means |
| Sell by | This doesn’t show the date by which food expires. You can still consume yogurt after the pass date. |
| Best before | This shows quality, not safety. The products are at their freshest peaks during the date mentioned. You can consume a yogurt at least after two to three weeks from this date. |
| Use by | It is similar to “best before” The food is still edible after this |
A yogurt, is passed the sniff test, can be consumed without any hesitation. A spoilt yogurt smells unbearable, like spoilt milk. Opened yogurts get expired sooner than unopened yogurts. Spoilt yogurts contain a kind of mold and are said to cause mild health issues.
Why Can You Use a Yogurt Past its Use By Date for So Long?
Expiry dates or “use by” dates are a guide to the store owners not to us, consumers after we purchase them. Now that we know that the expiry date talks about the freshness of the products, we can use a yogurt even after two weeks of its expiry date. Yogurts are made by so-called “bacteria” It is essentially made from spoilt milk in the first place. Therefore, for yogurt to get spoilt further, it takes a lot of time. Another way to save your yogurt a little longer is by storing it in the fridge and not breaking open the seal. Opened seals spoil the yogurt, and it’s still fine to eat an expired yogurt but it’s never okay to eat a spoilt yogurt. If you eat a yogurt two weeks past its use-by date, you will get mild side effects such as stomach cramps and so on. But if you eat an opened tin, you might have severe vomiting which is a result of food poisoning.
Storage is also very important with the life of any food. Some studies suggest that a yogurt stays fresh only for 2 hours if it is kept outside a refrigerator. They say it starts developing a mold if it is not refrigerated.
At any time, it is best to check if the smell of the yogurt is normal. If it has a bad stench, it means, the yogurt is no longer good to eat and you have to toss the container.
Conclusion
Yogurt is one of the best ways to strengthen your bones and improve calcium. Yogurt is one food that can be eaten after its expiration date. An expired yogurt is only going to make its flavor tangier. So, if tanginess is your go-to flavor, then an expired yogurt is the best choice for you. But, if your yogurt has fruit in the bottom, it is best that you stick to the expiry dates. An expired yogurt will probably make you vomit, cause diarrhea and give stomach cramps. But you’re definitely not going to eat a bad-smelling yogurt, are you?