[Acrylic-bob]

Of course there is the other reason for the increased use of "Use By" dates... to encourage that section of the population who are unable to think for themselves to disgard perfectly good food and run along to the supermarket to buy more to replace it. It's a bit like the concept of "built in obsolecence" which you find in so many "white" goods these days - irreplacable components which are designed to fail after a certain amount of usage.