“保質(zhì)期”英文解讀

據(jù)媒體報道，蒙牛駐浙江省義烏市的經(jīng)理，擅自將蒙牛純牛奶的生產(chǎn)日期篡改至出廠日期的6個月之后，這批遭篡改的牛奶數(shù)量多達3000箱。目前，這名經(jīng)理及同伙已被刑事拘留。

請看《中國日報》的報道：

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.

蒙牛乳業(yè)集團一名銷售經(jīng)理因涉嫌篡改數(shù)批次牛奶的生產(chǎn)日期已被浙江警方拘留。

To tamper with the production date就是“篡改生產(chǎn)日期”的英文說法，這種行為屬于fraudulent labeling(欺騙性標簽)。

我們買東西的時候都會注意到包裝上標注的保質(zhì)期。英語里常見的有三種說法，分別為use by, best before和display until，每個的側(cè)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(chǎn)品性質(zhì)會發(fā)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(fā)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(chǎn)品從貨架上撤下來了。