If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me about food expiration dates, I could afford to buy a lot of the milk that gets tossed each week just for being one day “past.”

These questions come in by the dozen -- from readers, neighbors and once from a stranger in the dairy aisle holding a suspicious-looking yogurt cup like it was a ticking timebomb.

It’s no wonder. Between the “sell by,” “use by” and “best before” -- and “What the heck does this code mean?” -- food packaging labels have become their own dialect. Most of us are just trying to avoid food poisoning without wasting good money -- or a perfectly decent sleeve of saltines.

That brings me to Bob D., who wrote:

Dear Mary: Can you clarify expiration dates on food products? When it says “sell by 8/01/25,” does that mean it h

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