In accordance with the legislation, information on the shelf life of the goods must be brought to the attention of consumers in a visual and accessible form. However, despite the "clarity and accessibility", questions can arise even for the most experienced buyers.
Instructions
Step 1
Carefully study the packaging of the product you intend to purchase. One or two dates will be indicated on it. This information can be either printed or punched with a perforator or embossed in the form of an embossed inscription. The date can be indicated both on the lid of the product (for example, dairy products), and on the bottom, end and one of the sides of the package. In the event that a product is manufactured (packaged) in a store, the date of production should be found on the price tag, which is glued directly to the product packaging.
Step 2
If you are unable to locate the information you are interested in, contact your dealer for help. Ask to indicate exactly where you can personally verify the suitability of the product. If the seller recommends trusting him and convinces you that the product is good, in no case should you purchase the product. Ask for a similar product with a stated expiration date on the packaging.
Step 3
Look on the packaging for information about which of the dates should be indicated: the production date or the expiration date. If both dates are indicated, compare them, and the later will correspond to the expiration date, after which the use of this product in food is highly undesirable, as it can entail serious health consequences.
Step 4
Please note that on a number of products (primarily perishable ones - including dairy and fermented milk), not only the date of production, but also the time of manufacture of this product may be indicated. In this case, time usually comes first. For example, if you found the inscription 03:05:10 on sour cream, it most likely means that the package of sour cream you have chosen was made on October 5 of this year at three in the morning, and not on May 3, and even not this year.
Step 5
Note that the opposite situation is possible when considering products with a long shelf life (for example, seasonings, cereals, canned food). In this case, a number of manufacturers consider it sufficient to indicate only the month and year of production.
Step 6
Avoid products with erased or partially erased information about the date of manufacture / expiration of the product. Firstly, perhaps for this very reason, an inattentive seller may leave an expired product on the counter. It is not uncommon for unscrupulous sellers to erase the old date of production on a "stale" product and knock out a new one in order to avoid a loss.
