Are You Using Best By Date for Your Food Product Labeling?


“Use before.”
“Sell by.”
“Expires on.”
The American food industry and consumers have struggled with these terms for years. The confusion about food safety leads to excessive food wastage. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service, Americans discard approximately 133 billion pounds and $161 billion worth of food each year due to safety concerns.
To improve the quality of consumables and decrease the food wastage problem, the FDA decided to provide its own guidelines on labels asking the food manufacturers to use “Best if used by,” to show when a food product may be at its best quality.
This guideline is now widely accepted and implemented in the food industry to store eatables. However, there are still some businesses that aren’t familiar with this practice. If you’re one of them, here’s why it’s important to introduce correct food labeling on your products.

Understanding Food Labels:

Food packaging should have all the necessary information to help consumers decide which foods to choose for a healthy lifestyle. While many companies focus on the ingredients and nutrition levels, many forget to mention about the product dates.
These dates help consumers understand how fresh the food is and indicates until when a product remains in its best quality. Manufacturers usually focus on two types of dates: open dating and closed dating. The former helps to determine the freshness of a product; the latter describes when the product was manufactured. Other labels include “sell by,” which is used by stores to determine the shelf life of a product.
However, according to FDA Consumer Research, “Best if used by” communicates the quality of food most effectively to the consumers. It indicates the date by which your product will be of optimal quality. Even if the date has passed, the food items are safe to consume if stored properly.


Guidelines for Food Safety:
Proper labeling helps retailers and consumers understand when the food is of the best quality. This isn’t a federal law but is a great practice to increase consumer confidence and is highly encouraged to maintain food safety and quality.
Although product dates aren’t made compulsory by federal regulations for most food items, there are some consumables that should be marked by appropriate labels. These include infant formulas, which should contain precise amounts of ingredients that shouldn’t be used after expiration.
For other items such as meat, poultry, and egg products, dates can be applied voluntarily under the jurisdiction of the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). These dates should be correct and in compliance with FSIS regulations.
To maintain the safety and quality of your products, a good approach is to use labels that meet all USDA and FDA requirements. Premium Vials deals in high-quality shipping supplies, metal tins, clear glass jars, labels, zipper-lock bags and a lot more.
Get in touch with us to get your hands on safe and reliable packaging solutions. Call us at (888) 545-3117 to learn more. 

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