Which country's food-date advice is your AI assistant using?

Two official sources can give an AI assistant very different answers about a ‘use-by’ date. Choosing the more reassuring quote is not a safe way to plan dinner. The US Department of Agriculture's Food Product Dating guide describes ‘Use-By’ as a peak-quality date, not a safety date, except on infant formula. The UK government's food-labelling guide says use-by dates concern safety and eating food after that date could make you ill. It also explains the separate case of food cooked or frozen on or before the date. Those pages address different labelling systems. They are not two votes to average into a universal rule. If I were asking an AI meal planner about a package, I would give it the country where it was sold, the exact date wording and the storage instructions, then ask for the applicable local guidance. A photo of a date alone cannot establish how the food was stored; the UK guide warns that improper storage can make food unsafe even before its use-by date. This is a comparison of existing official advice, not a test of a chatbot or a judgment that a particular food is safe. An assistant should be willing to leave an item out of tonight's plan when it cannot resolve which advice applies. Saving a grocery purchase is not worth borrowing the wrong country's rule.