The best before date (BBD) is a mandatory declaration element that must be printed on nearly every food product, although there are some exceptions that will be explained in the next paragraph. The BBD states the minimum period for which products can be consumed without health risks ensuring the defined quality and taste under expected conditions of storage. The BBD is always set by the manufacturer based on storage and stability tests. Therefore, sometimes products made by different manufacturers can have varied BBDs.
Besides the correct packaging and storage, it’s mostly up to the raw materials themselves to determine a product’s shelf life. Dry products for instance have significantly longer shelf lives than others as harmful microorganisms won’t multiplicate as much. The typical shelf life of dry products like protein powders is usually two years from production, whereas it’s only one year for liquids despite the usage of preservatives. Also, products containing oils are more likely to spoil fast because they tend to become rancid very quickly.
However, there are products that do not need to be labelled with a BBD. This mainly relates to fresh fruits and vegetables, beverages with 10% or more alcohol by volume, solid sugar and chewing gums.
Often products can still be consumed and regarded as faultless after the BBD when the consumer relies on their senses of taste and smell. This distinguishes the BBD from the expiry date which is mainly used for medication and meat.
Stating a BBD or an appropriate symbol is also mandatory for cosmetics in case they expire unopened in less than 30 months. Therefore, most manufacturers use a can or an hourglass symbol containing a number which represents the number of months the product can be used once it was opened. This is often referred to as period after opening.
In order to set the correct BBD for your product we regard the ingredients, the packaging and the storage conditions. Special storage and quality tests are also considered, resulting in a certain date that fulfils every criterion and ensures a faultless quality.
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