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“Generally speaking, expiration dates in the U.S. don’t mean a lot,” says Laurie Beyranevand, director of the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems at Vermont Law School. “What’s even more confusing is that they’re written in a few different ways on a product label.”

You might see a “best before” date on one package and a “sell by” date on another. Typically, these labels indicate when manufacturers believe quality may start to decline, and they rarely address a product’s safety, Beyranevand says. Expiration dates on food items also tend to be conservative, adds food safety attorney Jory Lange, leading many of us to throw away a lot of perfectly safe food out of fear that it’s rotten.

As long as you store your groceries properly, you can still eat or use foods after their expiration dates, says Janilyn Hutchings, CP-FS, a food scientist with StateFoodSafety. “Better indicators for whether food has gone bad are ‘off’ smells, textures, and flavors,” she notes.

That said, some foods are at a higher risk of losing quality or carrying harmful pathogens. You don't need to obey every "best by" date, but here are 13 foods that experts say you should skip once they're past their date.

Infant Formula
Meat
Eggs
Soft Cheeses
Deli Meat
Fiddleheads
Strawberries
Ground Spices
Restaurant Leftovers
Raw Fish
Leafy Greens
Nuts
Cooking Oils

https://www.delish.com/kitchen-tools/kitchen-secrets/a65900159/foods-never-eat-after-expiration-dates/