Use-by vs best-before dates: what you can serve and what you can't

Two dates that aren't interchangeable

EU Regulation 1169/2011 on food information sets two kinds of date mark: the use-by date and the best-before date. They look alike on the pack, but they mean very different things for your business and for your customers' safety.

The key is what each one measures: use-by is about safety; best-before is about quality. That difference changes everything when it comes to managing stock, rotating it and deciding what you use and what you throw away.

How to read them on a Spanish label

The word to look for is *preferentemente*. If it's there, it's a best-before date. If the label just says *consumir antes del* or *caducidad*, it's a use-by date, and there's no room for judgement.

Use-by: safety, not up for discussion

Use-by dates go on foods that are highly perishable from a microbiological point of view: fresh meat, fish, fresh dairy, ready-prepared salads and similar. They show the day and month (and the year if the shelf life is longer than three months).

• Check use-by dates when the goods arrive and at every opening shift.
• Record the batch and the date with each delivery, so you can react if there's a product recall.
• Anything thrown away because it passed its use-by date should be recorded, both to control waste and in case the inspector asks.

Best-before: quality, with nuance

Best-before dates go on foods that don't become a microbiological risk once the date has passed: tins, cereals, biscuits, chocolate, dried pasta, oil, pulses, coffee and so on.

After that date the manufacturer no longer guarantees the best taste, texture or colour, but the product can still be safe to eat. The law doesn't ban using or selling it, as long as it's in good condition, has been stored properly and you don't mislead the customer about it. In practice the call is yours as the operator, and it's a sensory one: if the oil is rancid or the coffee has lost all its aroma, there's no point using it.

How to manage both in your kitchen

1. 1Check at goods-in: note the date of each product as it arrives. If something arrives out of date, or so close to it that you can't use it in time, refuse it or send it back.
2. 2First in, first out: always put the products closest to their date at the front so they get used first.
3. 3Check the fridges and stores: include a quick look at the dates of the most sensitive products in your daily opening routine. Ideally it's part of your HACCP records.
4. 4Label what you make yourself: when you make something from fresh ingredients (a sauce, a stock, a marinade), label it with the date it was made and the last date it can be used. It doesn't have a printed use-by date, but it has a shelf life that you're responsible for.
5. 5Record what you remove: anything thrown out for passing its use-by date should be written down.

Spain's food waste law and dates

Spain's Law 1/2025 on preventing food loss and waste asks food businesses, hospitality included, to take active steps to reduce waste, and it requires restaurants to let customers take home what they don't finish. Managing best-before dates well is one of the most direct levers: many foods past their best-before date are still perfectly usable, and throwing them out without checking adds waste that costs you money.

That doesn't mean using food in poor condition to avoid throwing it away. It means rotating stock well enough that you use products before they deteriorate, and using up anything close to its best-before date in that day's dishes.

If you bake or run a production kitchen, dates are one part of a bigger system: see HACCP for bakeries and production kitchens.