A Date with Destiny: Understanding Food Labels and Product Dating
Like clockwork, around this time of year, we start to see an increase in questions related to food labels, so I thought I would devote this blog to the topic. We have discussed food labels within these blogs before, and although it has been a few years, you would likely find the topic if you searched hard enough, but it is an important topic and bears repeating.
For this blog, I wanted to specifically discuss the product or code dating that is included on most packages sent directly from the manufacturer. The same type of dating is included on products that you purchase from your local supermarket.
Outside of baby formula and some types of baby food, product dating is not necessarily required by federal law. For meat, poultry, and egg products, the use of dates is voluntary, but once used, they must be labeled in a “truthful and non-misleading manner”. Once a manufacturer starts to date products, there are a few requirements, such as how the date must be expressed on the packaging. But there is no universal system for food date labeling in the United States.
… contrary to popular belief, the dates are not an indication of safety, they are provided to allow the consumer and retailed to make informed decisions of which food is the best quality.
Further, contrary to popular belief, the dates are not an indication of safety, they are provided to allow the consumer and retailer to make informed decisions of which food is the best quality. I even find myself, at times, thinking it is a date by when the food ensured of safety, and that is simply not the case. One study, which explored sources of food waste, noted that close to 50% of consumers did not understand “best by”, “best before”, “use by”, or other types of food labels[1], while the National Resources defense Council noted 90% of consumers have discarded food because they misunderstood the food label[2].
Here is a summary of the types of dates you often see used. These are the same explanations provided by the Food Safety Inspection Service of USDA.
- A “Best if Used By/Before” date indicates when a product will be of best flavor or quality.
- A “Sell-By” date tells the store how long to display the product for sale for inventory management.
- A “Use-By” date is the last date recommended for the use of the product while at peak quality.
- A “Freeze-By” date indicates when a product should be frozen to maintain peak quality.
If the date passes during home storage, a product should still be safe and wholesome if handled properly until the time spoilage is evident. The same cannot be said for infant formula, these products should not be used after the “use by” date.
Now, most of the above information applies to consumers. For foodservice operations, the requirements are spelled out by the 2017 Food Code, stating, “the day or date marked by the food establishment may not exceed a manufacturer’s use-by date if the manufacturer determined the use-by date based on food safety.” Though, it is important to note that each jurisdiction may change or revise the code for their local area, so do check your code before taking this as the official rule.
I do hope you all have a great Holiday season and a very happy new year. Be sure to join us in 2021 for our SafeBites webinar series. Feel free to also reach out with any of your food safety questions, our food safety team at FoodHandler is committed to bringing you the most up-to-date food safety information and is committed to helping you improve your food safety programs. As we say at FoodHandler – Risk Nothing.
[1] Parfitt, J., Barthel, M., & Macnaughton, S. (2010). Food waste within food supply chains: quantification and potential for change to 2050. Philosophical transactions of the royal society B: Biological sciences, 365(1554), 3065-3081.
[2] National Resources Defense Council (2013, September 18). New Report: Food Expiration Date Confusion Causing up to 90% of Americans to Waste Food. Available at https://www.nrdc.org/media/2013/130918.
Food Safety Considerations for the “New Way” of Dining, Part II – Back-of-house
In our first blog this month, we discussed the importance of front-of-house practices as we emerge from the pandemic this summer and into fall. Making your guests feel safe will be an important point as we welcome them back to our establishment. The safer they feel, the more likely they are to revisit and this could, in turn, be a competitive advantage for your business.
Food Safety Considerations for the “New Way” of Dining
Spring is my favorite time of year, as we head out of the winter months, welcome warmer weather, and increase the daylight hours. As such, we turnover a new leaf and welcome new life as our grass, trees, and perennials come out of dormancy. This year as the Coronavirus vaccine continues its roll out and we welcome a third vaccine onto the market this morning, perhaps this spring we are turning over a ‘new leaf’ in a much more profound way, as we see light at the end of the Coronavirus tunnel.
Developing Good Food Safety Habits
Good habits and habit development are something that has fascinated me for several years. If you’ve attended any the training programs or presentations that my colleagues and I have conducted through our Center for Food Safety in Child Nutrition Programs, you’ve likely heard me opine about the importance of habits and how habits are created. Many times, in foodservice operations we wonder why our staff don’t follow the food safety practices we have established in our operation. Perhaps they don’t wash their hands when they are required, perhaps they just don’t use the proper method of handwashing, or perhaps we find that they don’t complete our HACCP logs as often as our program dictates should occur. And while we can stomp our feet and say “it is their job, they should just do it”, it really isn’t that simple. We can’t order people to change, although if we could, business and human resources would be so much simpler.
Getting Your Playbook for Food Safety Organized
As anyone who has ever worked in a foodservice operation knows, from the time food is received in your establishment to the time it is served to your customers, following proper food safety practices is crucial. What many don’t often think about is this time really should extend from the time the manager places their orders with their suppliers (including which purveyors you utilize), through the time the food is consumed – even if that consumption occurs off your premises and days after the original order was picked up by the guest. This is something that has certainly been highlighted by the pandemic as customers across the nation are utilizing take-out, curbside to go, and third-party delivery options more so now than ever before.
