從“過期肉”說說“保質期”

近日，新聞媒體曝光了肯德基、麥當勞、必勝客等洋快餐的供應商上海福喜食品公司使用過期劣質肉的事件。該公司將落地肉直接上生產線，各種過期原料隨意添加。

Chicken nuggets are sold at a McDonald's restaurant in Beijing on Monday. Some products are no longer for sale in Shanghai after Shanghai Husi Food Co Ltd, a subsidiary of the Chicago-based OSI Group, was exposed in a media report as supplying fast food restaurants with expired chicken and beef. [Photo/China Daily]

Shanghai has shut a food production factory for allegedly selling out-of-date meat to restaurant giants including McDonald's and KFC.

上海關閉了一家涉嫌向麥當勞、肯德基等快餐店供應過期肉的食品加工廠。

“過期肉”可用out-of-date meat或expired meat表示，指的就是過了保質期的肉制品。

英語里有關“保質期”的說法常見的有三種，分別為use by, best before和display until，每個的側重點不同。'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”，過了這個日期以后產品性質會發生變化，不適宜再食用。'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多用于速凍、干貨或罐頭食品，指過了這個期限后口感和味道可能會發生變化，但依舊可以安全食用。'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則是給銷售人員看的，到了這個日期后就該把產品從貨架上撤下來了。

（中國日報網英語點津 Helen）