Best if used by...

Recently I was having a chat with a couple of my officemates about when was the right time to chuck things of out of the fridge or the pantry. One of them had brought in a bag full of some granola bars to share with the office because the date stamp on the foil package was beyond the present date and she was afraid that they had gone off. Egad! I have never heard of an expired granola bar. Aren't they precisely the kind of food you should keep in your car or emergency kits for earthquakes, fires and floods precisely because they do not expire? I think this whole expiration date thing is the creation of lawyers and marketers.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't think that some foods and medicines have a shelf life. I do. When milk in my fridge gets sour and lumpy or the bread is sprouting legs, I toss it, usually. (unless , of course, I can manag to coax one last bit of French toast out of it).
Pardon me! When did corporations decide that my senses weren't good enough to figure out that the colony growing in my fridge was no longer good for me? I understand that their lawyers are trying to protect them from fools who gladly consume their months old fridge colonies, but there has to be a limit. Of course I understand that it is a useful tool to aid people, but now it seems that to me that people have surrendered their sense to the date stamp! I don't agree that you should keep that leftover chicken in the fridge for weeks. However, one can make reasonable judgements . My officemate admitted to pouring out milk simply because it was a day past due. Of course the milk folks love that because they get to sell you another litre of milk.
Ka-ching!
I can't abide by this excess! Not in a world of hunger and want. Waste is excess. Excess is selfish! My two office mates, along with a good chunk of America are being duped! Man! that corporate propaganda got kick!