Does Federal Law Require Food Product Dating?

Except for infant formula, product dating is not required by Federal regulations. [1]For meat, poultry, and egg products under the jurisdiction of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS), dates may be voluntarily applied provided they are labeled in a manner that is truthful and not misleading and in compliance with FSIS regulations.[2] To comply, a calendar date must express both the month and day of the month. In the case of shelf-stable and frozen products, the year must also be displayed. Additionally, immediately adjacent to the date must be a phrase explaining the meaning of that date such as "Best if Used By." READ MORE CLICK HERE

 

Working with the Food Industry to Reduce Confusion Over Date Labels

Between the food industry and consumers, Americans are throwing out about a third of our food — approximately 133 billion pounds or $161 billion in food each year — according to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Manufacturers of packaged foods voluntarily use a wide variety of introductory phrases on product date labels, such as “Best If Used By,” “Use By,” and “Sell By,” to describe quality dates to indicate when a food may be at its best quality. In a 2007 survey of U.S. consumers conducted on knowledge and use of open dates (i.e. calendar dates) used on product date labels for common packaged foods, less than half were able to distinguish between the meanings of three different introductory phrases that often appear before the calendar date on the product label: “Sell By”, “Use By”, and “Best If Used By”.3 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA
or we) has found that food waste by consumers may often result from fears about food safety caused by misunderstanding what the introductory phrases on product date labels mean, along with uncertainty about storage of perishable foods.4 It has been estimated that confusion over
date labeling accounts for approximately 20 percent of consumer food waste. READ MORE CLICK HERE

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