Federal law requires a date on infant formula, a "Use by" date the maker sets from testing; on other foods FDA regulates, whether to date the package and how to word it has been the maker's choice. California changed that on July 1, 2026. For food made on or after that date and sold in the state, any date shown to say something about quality or safety has to use one of the uniform terms: "BEST if Used by" or "BEST if Used or Frozen by" for a quality date, when the food starts to lose quality but is still fine to eat; "USE by" or "USE by or Freeze by" for a safety date, on perishable food that should be eaten or frozen by then. Lowercase versions, "Best if Used by" and "Use by", are allowed too. Small items can use "BB" and "UB", and beverages can use "BB" for quality. And "sell by" can't appear at all, except as a code shoppers can't easily read for the store's stock rotation. You still don't have to put a date on food that doesn't carry one, and infant formula, eggs and beer are outside the rule. In the example below, a San Diego juice maker finds its bottles have said "sell by" since July.
The short version
- Federal law requires a date on infant formula; on other FDA-regulated foods it's the maker's choice.
- California, from July 1, 2026: food made from that date and showing a date uses a uniform term.
- Quality: BEST if Used by, or BEST if Used or Frozen by. Safety: USE by, or USE by or Freeze by.
- BB and UB for small items; BB for beverages' quality dates.
- No "sell by" on the label; a code shoppers can't read is fine for stock rotation.
- No date is required if you don't show one; infant formula, eggs and beer are outside the rule.
- TaroStack keeps each lot's dates, so the date on a case comes from the batch. More below.
The terms
| What the date means | Full term | Short form |
|---|---|---|
| Quality: may start to deteriorate, still fine to eat | BEST if Used by, BEST if Used or Frozen by | BB, on small items and beverages |
| Safety: eat or freeze by then | USE by, USE by or Freeze by | UB, on small items |
| Stock rotation for the store | Not on the label in words | A code shoppers can't easily read |
The date formats themselves are in best by date format, and setting the date in shelf life testing.
The rules
| Rule | Where |
|---|---|
| The terms | Quality and safety dates on food made from July 1, 2026, use the uniform terms; BB and UB as above (Cal. Food and Agricultural Code 82001(a)) |
| Sell by | No food made from July 1, 2026, may be sold labeled "sell by", except in a code not easily readable by consumers (82001(b)(2)) |
| What's not required | No date label unless one is displayed; "packed on" allowed on a grocery store's prepared food with a uniform date; infant formula, eggs and beer excluded (82001(d), (e)) |
| Definitions | Quality date, safety date and sell by date (82000) |
| Federal | Infant formula carries a Use by date (21 CFR 107.20(c)) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: bottles that said sell by
Sunset Cliffs Juice Co., the made-up cold-pressed juice maker in San Diego, California, I use in these examples, sells HPP bottles to grocers. In October a grocery buyer pointed out that its labels still said "sell by", three months after the rule took effect. The owner went through every label:
| Product | Label now | What the date means | New label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green juice, HPP, 12 oz | Sell by 11/14 | Safety | USE by 11/14/26 |
| Ginger shot, HPP, 2 oz | Exp 11/14 | Safety | UB 11/14/26 |
| Granola bites, 4 oz bag | Best by 3/27 | Quality | BEST if Used by 03/2027 |
| Counter juice, made to order | No date | No change | |
| Case code for the grocer | S1114 | Stock rotation | No change: a code without the words |
The juice's date comes from the co-packer's shelf life for the HPP bottles, so it's a safety date and says "USE by" in full: a 12-ounce bottle has room, and "BB" is allowed for beverages only as a quality date. The 2-ounce shot is too small for the full term, so it uses "UB". Bottles made before July 1 were outside the rule; everything since gets the new labels, starting with the next print run. How the bottles get to stores is in juice co-packer, and the warning the counter juice carries in juice warning label.
Get the checker
Download the date label checker. One sheet: each product, whether it's sold in California and made from July 1, 2026, today's wording, what the date means, and whether it's small or a beverage; the wording allowed and whether today's label passes fill in. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The wording is the easy part. The date itself has to be right on every bottle, worked out from the day it was made, and a print run of labels with a hand-typed date is how a batch ends up with someone else's.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each lot's dates, so the date on a case comes from the batch.
Lots with dates. Each batch is a lot with its production date and its use-by or best-by date.
Lot labels. Lot labels print with the lot, and an item with a GTIN carries the use-by date in its GS1-128 barcode, so a case's date is the batch's.
First-expired-first-out. Orders take the oldest bottles first by default, and a grocer can be set to take only bottles with enough days left.
| The job | Notebook | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date for this batch | Worked out by hand | On the lot |
| The date on the case label | Typed into the label file | From the lot, in the barcode |
| Bottles with enough days for the grocer | Checked by hand | The customer's shelf-life rule |
Lots, lot labels and first-expired-first-out are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.