“保质期”英文解读

据媒体报道，蒙牛驻浙江省义乌市的经理，擅自将蒙牛纯牛奶的生产日期篡改至出厂日期的6个月之后，这批遭篡改的牛奶数量多达3000箱。目前，这名经理及同伙已被刑事拘留。

请看《中国日报》的报道：

Police in East China’s Zhejiang province have detained a sales manager at Mengniu Dairy Group on suspicion of tampering with the production dates on batches of milk.

蒙牛乳业集团一名销售经理因涉嫌篡改数批次牛奶的生产日期已被浙江警方拘留。

To tamper with the production date就是“篡改生产日期”的英文说法，这种行为属于fraudulent labeling(欺骗性标签)。

我们买东西的时候都会注意到包装上标注的保质期。英语里常见的有三种说法，分别为use by, best before和display until，每个的侧重点不同。'Use by' means exactly that. You shouldn't use any food or drink after the end of the 'use by' date shown on the label. Use by指“最后食用期限”，过了这个日期以后产品性质会发生变化，不适宜再食用。'Best before' dates are usually used on foods that last longer, such as frozen, dried or canned foods. It should be safe to eat food after the 'best before' date, but the food will no longer be at its best. Best before多用于速冻、干货或罐头食品，指过了这个期限后口感和味道可能会发生变化，但依旧可以安全食用。'Display until' and 'sell by' dates are instructions for shop staff to tell them when they should take a product off the shelves. Display until或sell by则是给销售人员看的，到了这个日期后就该把产品从货架上撤下来了。