SACRAMENTO, Calif., July 3 (Our California Times) — California’s new food date-label law takes effect July 1, requiring covered foods manufactured on or after that date to use standardized phrases such as “BEST if Used by” or “USE by,” according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.
The law, Assembly Bill 660, is aimed at reducing confusion over date labels that can lead people to throw away food that is still wholesome, the department said. It standardizes quality dates as “BEST if Used by” or “BEST if Used or Frozen by,” and safety dates as “USE by” or “USE by or Freeze by.”
The state also bans consumer-facing “sell by” dates on food products sold in California. CDFA says retailers may still use coded “sell by” information for inventory and stock rotation, as long as it is not intended for consumers.
CDFA says the law applies to food for human consumption in California, and that the sale prohibition does not apply to eggs or infant formula.
