Manufacturer dates have different meanings.
The German federal ministry describes best-before as a quality date under the specified storage conditions. Use-by concerns very perishable food. These terms must not be treated as interchangeable. The linked official source explains the difference.
Assessing a specific food and deciding your operational handling remain your business's professional responsibility. This guide does not approve individual food for consumption or prescribe a generic shelf life.
Opening and preparing are separate events.
An opened ingredient needs its recorded opening time and the appropriate approved rule. A newly prepared sauce is a different event. An internal date describes your recorded kitchen process; it is not an invented manufacturer date.
PREPLOQ uses the required information for each event. If information or approval is missing, no production label is issued. Test opening and preparing separately.
Review recording with four questions.
For a product, check which date type actually appears on its delivery. Keep that date separate from the later preparation step.
- Which manufacturer date type is present?
- Which kitchen step is being recorded?
- When did that step actually take place?
- Which approved rule applies to this event?
Sources and context
- German federal ministry: best-before and use-by
Official explanation of the two manufacturer date types, in German.
Questions about this topic
Can I use the same internal date rule for all food?
PREPLOQ provides no such default. Head office must professionally review and approve an appropriate rule per product and step.
What happens when an event is recorded later?
Event time and recording time stay separate. Entries more than 60 minutes after the event require a reason.