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Use by and best before dates (video)
Remember that a 'use by' date means just that: use the product on or before that date. Food with a use by date can't legally be sold after that date. A 'best before' date means that the food may have lost some quality or nutrition after that date but it can be sold or eaten for a little while after that. There are slightly different rules for bread which can be labelled with a 'baked on' or 'baked before' date. Date marking will only work if you follow the storage instructions on the label. So if a product says refrigerate at or below 4 Celsius - do just that.
- Organisation:
- Food Standards Australia New Zealand
- Topic:
- Hygiene, Food safety, Food and nutrition
- Target audience:
- General
- Service area:
- National
- Published:
- May 2016
- Last reviewed:
- October 2023
Multilingual resources
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