Food Safety - Date Marking Guidelines

Date marking is an effective way to help your facility control and manage Listeria growth, which will help make sure the food you serve to people will not make them sick. In this topic, learners are taught what date marking is, why it is important to date mark foods, and what types of foods require date marking.

• Questions (level 1, 2, 3)

• Video module

This topic is currently available in English.

1. Date marking is an internal system used to determine when ready-to-eat (RTE) potentially hazardous foods (PHF) should be thrown out, to help control the growth of Listeria and the spread of foodborne illnesses.

2. Date marking is different from the expiration, use-by, or sell-by dates included on manufactured foods. These dates guarantee the quality of the perishable food, whereas date marking is about safety for consumers.

3. All retail food businesses must use date marking as required by law, according to their area’s regulations to prevent foodborne illnesses. Make sure you check with your local regulatory agency to determine your specific requirements.

4. Time, not temperature, is the main way to manage Listeria growth, as its growth is only slowed by refrigeration, not stopped. If food remains in the refrigerator (at a temperature below 41° F) too long, any Listeria present can grow to levels that can cause foodborne illness.

5. A ready-to-eat (RTE) food is a food that no longer requires any preparation to be considered edible. Washed and cut produce are an example of an RTE.

6. All ready-to-eat potentially hazardous foods that will be kept refrigerated on the premises for more than 24 hours, and that require time and temperature controls to limit bacteria growth, need to be date marked after being prepared or opened.

7. Some ready-to-eat foods do not require date marking, such as cultured dairy products, hard cheeses, persevered fish products, and shelf stable meat products that aren’t marked “keep refrigerated”.

While the term ‘date marking’ may seem simple, there is a method for date marking ready-to-eat foods that should be followed to effectively limit the growth of Listeria and the spread of foodborne illness in your establishment. In this topic, learners are taught how to date mark these foods using the seven-day rule, as well as what to do if you’ve combined foods together, or placed ready-to-eat foods in the freezer.

• Questions (level 1, 2, 3)

• Video module

This topic is currently available in English.

1. Make sure that your date marking system suits the needs of your facility, is understandable, and clear to both you and an inspector. Some systems include: putting the discard date on the container, using color codes, day dots, or notebook entries.

2. Date marking uses the seven-day rule, which states perishable foods shouldn’t be kept longer than seven days, to determine when a ready-to-eat (RTE) food should be thrown away to prevent foodborne illness.

3. When date marking, day one is considered the day the food is prepared or opened at the facility it’s being stored/refrigerated at. This is because bacteria can reach unsafe levels after seven days.

4. To date mark a ready-to-eat (RTE) food, record either the date the food was prepared/opened, or the date it should be consumed, sold, or thrown out by, on the container or overwrap, to make sure all employees are aware of when it needs to be thrown away.

5. Store ready-to-eat (RTE) foods at 41° F or lower during all seven days they are kept, to help slow down Listeria growth and the spread of foodborne illness.

6. If you combine ready-to-eat (RTE) foods together, use the discard date of the oldest or first prepared/opened ingredient on the new, mixed food, as the old food will go bad first and can contaminate the new food if left too long.

7. When you freeze ready-to-eat (RTE) foods the seven-day rule is paused on the day it’s frozen. The discard date does not reset for another seven days when the RTE is thawed, as any bacteria will still be present on the food when it’s thawed.

8. If you’re freezing a ready-to-eat (RTE) food, make sure you mark the date it was prepared on and the date it’s being frozen, on the container, so you don’t keep it beyond seven days and risk causing foodborne illness.