There’s a best before date, use by date, and, expiry date. Dry pasta will have a best before. Companies have this so that they can guarantee that if storage conditions are ideal, the pasta will look, taste, and cook the same as if it was fresh out of the packet. Past this date, it might get brittle, but it wouldn’t affect the food safety of the product.

Extra info for those who are interested:

Best before will be things like rehydrated pasta, your meats, dairy, perishables… Though admittedly, I have eaten yogurt and hummus 4 months past the date. I lived by myself at the time and they lived in the back of the fridge.

Expiry would be things like baby formula, medication, anything that has a higher risk to health, whether it means it’s for a high risk population, or if it’s got an important role.