What is the difference between the date of minimum durability and the use by date?

The date of minimum durability ("best before") concerns quality — after it passes the food is often still perfectly edible. The use by date concerns safety, for microbiologically highly perishable foods such as minced meat; once it has passed, the food is deemed unsafe and may no longer be sold or eaten.

How is the date of minimum durability formatted?

It is preceded by "Best before ..." where the day is given, or "Best before end ..." in other cases. For foods that will not keep more than 3 months, day and month are sufficient; for 3 to 18 months, month and year; for more than 18 months, the year alone.

Which foods need no date of minimum durability?

Among others fresh untreated fruit and vegetables (but not sprouting seeds), wine and beverages containing 10 % or more alcohol by volume, bakery wares normally consumed within 24 hours, vinegar, cooking salt, solid sugar, certain confectionery and chewing gum (Annex X point 1(d)).

Guide · Labelling

Date of minimum durability — wording, format and exceptions

2 July 2026 · about 5 min read

The date of minimum durability is on almost every pack — and still gets worded wrongly or confused with the ‘use by’ date. As one of the mandatory particulars under the FIC Regulation it is clearly settled. Here is how to give it correctly, when a ‘use by’ date is required instead, and which foods need no date at all.

What is the date of minimum durability?

It is a mandatory particular under Article 9; the detail sits in Article 24 and Annex X. It states the date up to which a food keeps its specific properties — taste, texture, aroma — when stored properly. So it is a quality date, not a safety date: after it passes, the food is often still perfectly fine, provided it was stored correctly and shows no sign of spoilage. The manufacturer sets it, on their own responsibility.

The wording and the format

Annex X point 1(a) fixes the words that precede the date:

“Best before …” — “when the date includes an indication of the day”.
“Best before end …” — “in other cases”.

How precise the date has to be depends on how long the food keeps (Annex X point 1(c)):

Not more than 3 months — “an indication of the day and the month shall be sufficient”.
More than 3 but not more than 18 months — “an indication of the month and year shall be sufficient”.
More than 18 months — “an indication of the year shall be sufficient”.

The date has to consist of day, month and possibly year, “in that order and in uncoded form”. If the date is not printed next to the wording, a reference to where it is on the labelling has to be added (“see lid”).

Minimum durability or ‘use by’? The decisive difference

For foods that are microbiologically highly perishable and therefore likely after a short period to constitute an immediate danger to human health — minced meat or smoked fish, say — the date of minimum durability is replaced by the ‘use by’ date. It is preceded by the words “use by …”, followed by the date and “a description of the storage conditions which must be observed”.

The difference matters in law: once the ‘use by’ date has passed, the food is deemed unsafe and may no longer be sold or eaten. Once the date of minimum durability has passed, the food may still be sold, provided it is still safe and is not presented misleadingly.

The exceptions: foods with no date of minimum durability

Annex X point 1(d) lists the cases where no date of minimum durability is required:

“fresh fruit and vegetables, including potatoes, which have not been peeled, cut or similarly treated” — but not sprouting seeds and similar products
wines, liqueur wines, sparkling wines, aromatised wines and similar products from fruit other than grapes
“beverages containing 10 % or more by volume of alcohol”
“bakers’ or pastry cooks’ wares which, given the nature of their content, are normally consumed within 24 hours of their manufacture”
vinegar
cooking salt
solid sugar
“confectionery products consisting almost solely of flavoured and/or coloured sugars”
“chewing gums and similar chewing products”

This article is general information and does not replace legal advice. What counts is the wording of the regulation as it applies at the time (Article 24 and Annex X of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011). The English text of the Regulation is quoted from the consolidated version of 1 January 2018 on EUR-Lex.