Question

The expiration date on a product refers to the last date a product should be __________.

Answer 1

The expiration date refers to the date that the product should be used/consumed by.

Answer 2

The answer is consumed. Think of a gallon of milk. There will always be an expiration date to let you know that after that date, it becomes too old to drink. This should not be confused with a "sell by" date, which signifies the deadline for each product to be taken off the shelf.