When food expires, should I throw it away or throw it outside to be composted/eaten by animals and insects?

I've been wondering about this for a while. I like to throw food scraps--like steak grissel or apple cores--outside because I know there are racoons or ants or something that I'm sure makes a nice meal out of; or because it'll help my compost pile.

But what I'm more referring to is expired cereal or potato chips. Or even expired tv dinners (removing the plastic first of course), molded bread or cheese, expired meat?

My thinking is that many mammals, insects, and birds are able to eat lots of things that would make a human get sick, so why not feed it to them instead of letting it go to waste and sending it to a landfill.

What do you guys think? And by the way, I live in a suburban town with my own back yard, so it would never be aesthetically displeasing to my neighbors.