'as simple as being acceptable'

Question

"Many packaged foods, particularly the more perishable ones, come with an expiration date. The expiration date represents the food scientist’s best guess on how long a food will last before it spoils. A food scientist calculates the expiration date by first determining the product’s shelf life (how long it will last under typical storage). The expiration date is usually set before the end of shelf life, but it is not as simple as being acceptable to eat the day before the expiration date and unacceptable the day after the date."

About the underlined part above,

1. Does 'it' means 'The expiration date'?

2. Is the 'as' is functioning as a preposition such as 'like'?

3. If I parse the simple sentence - "it is acceptable to eat the day before . . . after the date" has been reduced into the simple phrase - "(it) being acceptable to eat the day before . . . after the date", is this parse justified and then how the "it is" could be done into "(it) being" as a participle phrase?

I would appreciate on your explanation.

* source; https://books.google.co.kr/books?id=J50oCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT23&lpg=PT23&dq=%22The+expiration+date+represents+the+food+scientist%E2%80%99s+best+guess+on+how+long+a+food+will+last+before+it+spoils%22&source=bl&ots=AMTewGWo9u&sig=ACfU3U0REHK9Fl6uWvzbfKB1bw4mGxGlMQ&hl=ko&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjAqtyt_bH5AhUO_2EKHc2yBM4Q6AF6BAgCEAM#v=onepage&q=%22The%20expiration%20date%20represents%20the%20food%20scientist%E2%80%99s%20best%20guess%20on%20how%20long%20a%20food%20will%20last%20before%20it%20spoils%22&f=false

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

deepcosmosThe expiration date is usually set before the end of shelf life, but it is not as simple as being acceptable to eat the day before the expiration date and unacceptable the day after the date.

The expiration date is usually set before the end of shelf life,

but it (= the situation in general concerning the setting of expiration dates)
is not as simple as
[being acceptable to eat the day before the expiration date
and
being unacceptable to eat the day after the expiration date].

Compare your example to other cases below. Note the -ing form (gerund) after "not as simple as":

It is not as simple as saying go to your room if you do not eat your vegetables.
Going to college is not as simple as packing the car and finding the dorm room.
The process is not as simple as collecting dead branches from the forest floor.

(The negation 'not' is not necessary in this construction, nor is the specific adjective 'simple'.)

I would paraphrase the words you asked about thus:

... is not as simple as saying
"It is acceptable to eat (this food) the day before the expiration date
and
it is not acceptable (to eat this food) the day after the date".

The "it"s are dummy "it"s from extrapolating "to eat this food ...":

To eat this food the day before the expiration date is acceptable, ...

deepcosmos
1. Does 'it' means 'The expiration date'? No. See above.
2. Is the 'as' is functioning as a preposition such as 'like'?
It's similar but not really exactly the same as 'like'. It's the 'as' that is used in comparisons of equality. "as X as" ~ "equally X when compared to"
This book is as interesting as that book. This procedure is as complicated as that procedure. This chair is as heavy as that sofa.
3. If I parse the simple sentence - "it is acceptable to eat the day before . . . after the date" has been reduced into the simple phrase - "(it) being acceptable to eat the day before . . . after the date", is this parse justified and then how the "it is" could be done into "(it) being" as a participle phrase? Sort of, but no, not exactly. It's closer to a gerund than to a participle. The gerund can be paraphrased with "the act of" or "the activity of", thus, rephrasing some of the examples above:
Going to college is not as simple as the activities of packing the car and finding the dorm room.
The process is not as simple as the act of collecting dead branches from the forest floor.
The situation regarding expiration dates is not as simple as the act of saying "It's acceptable ... and it's unacceptable ...".
In this last case, the omission of "saying" causes the -ing form to be transferred to the first verb after "simple as", thus "simple as being acceptable" instead of "simple as saying "It is acceptable".

Anyway, that's my interpretation of the passage. There may be other interpretations because that's a pretty complicated case, partially because, in my opinion, the writer did not express the thought as clearly as he might have.

CJ

'as simple as being acceptable'

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