从“过期肉”说说“保质期”

近日，新闻媒体曝光了肯德基、麦当劳、必胜客等洋快餐的供应商上海福喜食品公司使用过期劣质肉的事件。该公司将落地肉直接上生产线，各种过期原料随意添加。

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Shanghai has shut a food production factory for allegedly selling out-of-date meat to restaurant giants including McDonald's and KFC.

上海关闭了一家涉嫌向麦当劳、肯德基等快餐店供应过期肉的食品加工厂。

“过期肉”可用out-of-date meat或expired meat表示，指的就是过了保质期的肉制品。

英语里有关“保质期”的说法常见的有三种，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。

（中国日报网英语点津 Helen）