Information about dates on pre-packaged food product is a valuable source of information about the life of the packaged food product for the consumers. Date of manufacture or packing on the labels provides an information about the age of the product and from this date the consumer can assess, how old the product is ? Whereas, the Best Before Date or Use by Date indicates the remaining healthy life of the unopened product. Best Before Date is the date by which it is expected that the unopened food, when stored under appropriate conditions, will retain its freshness, taste, nutritional value and all other claimed qualities. A “best-before” date, tells when the potential shelf-life period of the unopened foods ends. One can consume foods after the “best before” date has passed.
However, when this date has passed, the food may lose some of its freshness and flavour, or its texture may have changed. Some of its nutritional value, such as vitamin C content, may also be lost. Remember that “best before” dates are not indicators of food safety, neither before nor after the date. They apply to unopened products only. Once opened, the shelf life of a food may change.
“Best before” dates do not guarantee product safety. However, they do give you the information about the freshness and potential shelf-life of the unopened foods you are buying.
The Indian Food Law, FSS (Packaging and Labelling ) Regulations,2011,notified by FSSAI, defines the terms like , Date of Manufacture , Date of Packing, Best Before Date and Use by Date . The Regulation makes it mandotary that the information about the Date of manufacture or packing and Best Before or Use By Date has to be mentioned on the label on the package of the food product.
The regulations define:
a.“Date of manufacture” means the date on which the food becomes the product.
b. “Date of packaging” means the date on which the food is placed in the immediate container in which it will be ultimately sold;
c. “Best before” means the date which signifies the end of the period under any stated storage conditions during which the food shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities for which express claims have been made and beyond that date, the food may still be perfectly safe to consume, though its quality may have diminished. However the food shall not be sold if at any stage the product becomes unsafe.
d.“Use – by date” or “Recommended last consumption date” or “Expiry date” means the date which signifies the end of the estimated period under any stated storage conditions, after which the food probably will not have the quality and safety attributes normally expected by the consumers and the food shall not be sold.
7.1 Date of manufacture or packing:
The date, month and year in which the commodity is manufactured, packed or pre-packed has to be given on the label in the prescribed manner :
In case the Best Before Date of the product is more than three months then only the month and the year of manufacture, or prepacking is required to be mentioned.
In case the packaged food product has a short shelf life of less than three months than the date, month and year in which the food commodity is manufactured, prepared or pre-packed is required to be mentioned.
7.2 Best before and Use By Date:
The month and year in capital letters up to which the product is best for consumption has to be mentioned on the label, as given below :—
“BEST BEFORE ……..MONTHS AND YEAR
OR
“BEST BEFORE ……..MONTHS FROM PACKAGING
OR
“BEST BEFORE …………MONTHS FROM MANUFACTURE
In case of packages containing the food commodity of perishable nature which has a short shelf life i.e. pizza, doghunts,khoya, paneer etc. The date, month and year in capital letters up to which the product is best for consumption has to mentioned on the label as given below.
“BEST BEFORE ……….DATE/MONTH/YEAR”
OR
“BEST BEFORE……..DAYS FROM PACKAGING”
OR
“BEST BEFORE …….. DAYS FROM MANUFACTURE”
In case of Aspartame and Infant milk substitute and Infant Foods, Use by Date/recommended last consumption date/expiry Date has to be mentioned. Best Before Date is not required to be given on such packages.
In case of wines liquors and alcoholic beverages containing more than 10% of alcohol, Best Before Date, Use by Date or Expiry Date is not required to be mentioned.
From the manufacturer or packers point of view it is important to note that he has to ensure that his unopened pre-packaged food , when stored under appropriate conditions, retains its freshness, taste, nutritional value and all other claimed qualities , atleast upto its Best Before Date.
If there are any particular storage conditions for the product to maintain its shelf life, these must be pointed out. However, as a rule it is recommended to always describe the necessary storage conditions for a food product.
Shelf life should be established for all products by conducting planned and carefully executed shelf life studies.
To make sure food lasts until its date, it’s important to mention storage instructions, such as ‘Keep refrigerated’ and ‘Store in a cool, dark place’ on the label.
A consumer will always be interested to know about the life of a packaged food product, so the label should have the information about the date of manufacture or packing and best before or use by date.
PS – This is the module 7 of the 15 modules free e-course on food labeling in compliance with the Food Safety and Standards Act. Going foward in next module, we will study the relevance of the net quantity or the amount of contents on the label for a particular food container.
Once you register and subscribe to the course, we will send you the first module on the third day from the registration and the subsequent modules will be sent in the similar pattern i.e. with a gap of two days.
Chauhan says
I am want to know if any product is mention only by month then how count the their experiy date
Dr. Saurabh Arora says
I would it count if from the 1st of the month
Ishaq Mirza says
Hello Sir,
you are saying it will considered as 01st Day of the month; is their any reference document for the same ?
Rahul says
I have purchased one biscuit packet from market but it has no information of date / rate/ lot number
What should I do
Padmashree says
If best before is 25.12.2016 is it safe to consume on 25.12.2016 or does it mean we have consume by 24.12.2016.
FSH Team says
As per FSSAI Regulation the food product shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made on the label of the products, provided the food product shall be stored at the required temperature and it should be free from any physical damages stated storage conditions and the food product may still be perfectly safe to consume beyond BEST BEFORE DATE though its quality may get diminished. It is clearly mentioned under the labelling regulations that a food product shall only be sold if it is safe for human consumption.
vigneshwar says
we are planning to open food factory in Tamil Nadu please help us in packing area we need to know how to pack our product how to pack our product what kind of pack every thing about packing ..
FSH Team says
You can go through the given url for information regarding packaging – https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Compendium_Packaging_Labelling_Regulations_22_01_2019.pdf
Arun Kumar says
Hi,
We have imported chocolate product from Brasil and in the label it has mentioned only the date of expiry and lot number is it fine to import in India or Manufacturing date is mandatory to import.
FSH Team says
Date of PKD/MFD is not mandatory if the Date of Expiry is mentioned on the food product.
Shaneabbas says
What if the product has a movable sticker indicating MGD & EXP.
What does the ACT says.
Please share India ACT link for labelling on the Product & Raw Materials.
FSH Team says
You can read through the following – https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Compendium_Packaging_Labelling_Regulations_22_01_2019.pdf
Chandan Kumar says
I want to know that glucose powder having packaging date 04/16, then what should be their expiry date from packaging.
Sonu says
If some body placed the new print rates and cut the last manufacturer date
Kiran amin says
Hello I had one query tetra pack of milk says it’s mfd : 23/03/18 and it says best before before 180 days from packaging when stored in a cool and dry place.
Does that mean this product is not fresh in it had been expired.
FSH Team says
As you mentioned the details of Milk packet having MFD – 23.03.2018 and Best Before – 180 days. So the 180th day of the Milk pack was 19.09.2018 (expiry date).
Abhishekh says
What if the curd packet that i have purchased does not have a ‘date of packing’. But, has a 7 days of expiry date??
FSH Team says
If the shelf life of the products is not more than 7 days than the Date of MFD/PKD may not be required to be mentioned on the label of the food product. However, in your case it is mentioned as BEST BEFORE DATE means the shelf life of the products is more than 7 days. So, the Date of PKD/MFd shall have to be mentioned on the label.
You can report your grievance on the following link – https://foodlicensing.fssai.gov.in/cmsweb/
Taran jeet says
Can anyone told where we mention mfg date or where we use pkd on date? Please give answer with reference. As I got confused with that one brand give mfg date and another brand given pkd on date with same kind of product.
FSH Team says
You can read through this url – https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/Compendium_Packaging_Labelling_Regulations_22_01_2019.pdf
Swapnil says
So it means we can use after best before Right? But how many months ? Because sometimes product not showing expiry date. They only show PKD date & tell us best before months!
Thanks In Advance.
FSH Team says
As per FSSAI Regulation the food product shall remain fully marketable and shall retain any specific qualities for which tacit or express claims have been made on the label of the products, provided the food product shall be stored at the required temperature and it should be free from any physical damages stated storage conditions and the food product may still be perfectly safe to consume beyond BEST BEFORE DATE though its quality may get diminished. It is clearly mentioned under the labelling regulations that a food product shall only be sold if it is safe for human consumption.
Nagarjuna says
Sir could you inform the penalties for not having the sufficient information over the packed food products
FSH Team says
You can read through the following url – https://www.fssai.gov.in/upload/uploadfiles/files/FOOD-ACT.pdf