Refrigerated soup is a perishable food, so its date is about safety as well as quality. It starts with cooling: from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, and to 41°F within 6 hours in all. After that, bacteria grow slowly in the fridge, faster above 41°F; herbs fade, and cream soups can separate. Under the FDA Food Code, which states adopt in their own versions, a retail kitchen keeps ready-to-eat refrigerated food no more than 7 days at 41°F. In the example below, a Vermont soup maker's quarts passed every test through day 10, and they say use by 7 days, a 25% margin. Below is what ends soup's shelf life, the study, storage, the date, and a free template.
The short version
- Cool from 135°F to 70°F within 2 hours, and to 41°F within 6 in all.
- Keep it at 34 to 38°F.
- Bacteria, fading flavor and separation end refrigerated soup.
- The Food Code's 7-day limit applies in retail kitchens.
- Run a real-time study and leave a margin.
- Print "Use by", "Keep refrigerated" and how long once opened.
- TaroStack gives every batch its date from the shelf life you set. More below.
What ends its shelf life
| What ends it | What happens | What slows it |
|---|---|---|
| Bacteria | Counts climb in the fridge, faster above 41°F | Cool fast; hold at 34 to 38°F |
| Flavor | Herbs fade, cream soups go flat | Season near the end; a short date |
| Separation | Cream soups split; starchy soups thicken | "Stir well when reheating" |
| Opening | Air and spoons bring in bacteria | "Use within 3 days of opening" |
The soup maker's year is in soup business plan, and containers and labels in how to package soup for sale.
How it's stored
| Stored | In the example's tests | On the label |
|---|---|---|
| Sealed quart, refrigerated at 34 to 38°F | Passed every test through day 10 | Use by 7 days |
| Opened, refrigerated | Not part of the study | "Use within 3 days of opening" |
| Frozen | Not part of the study | "Freeze by the use-by date" |
Each batch's cooling is written down, in cooling log template.
An example: a shelf life study
Mill Race Soup Co., the made-up soup maker in Burlington, Vermont, I use in these examples, kept quarts of butternut squash soup from one batch at 36°F, sent two to a lab at each pull and tasted two more:
| Test | Pass if | Day 0 | Day 3 | Day 5 | Day 7 | Day 10 | Day 14 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aerobic plate count, CFU per gram | at most 100000 | 200 | 800 | 3000 | 15000 | 60000 | 400000 |
| Flavor score, 1 to 9 | at least 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 4 |
| Appearance score, 1 to 9 | at least 6 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 5 |
| All pass? | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Pass | Fail |
Everything passed through day 10; at day 14 the count passed the limit and the flavor fell below 6. Taking a 25% margin off day 10 gives 7 days, inside the Food Code's 7. How the pulls and margin are planned is in shelf life testing.
The date on the label
Refrigerated soup carries a safety date, "Use by", with "Keep refrigerated". In California, food made from July 1, 2026 that shows a date uses "BEST if Used by" for quality or "USE by" for safety, in sell by date law, and how to write the date is in best by date format.
Get the template
Download the soup shelf life study template. One sheet: the product, the lot tested, the day it was made, how it's stored and the margin to leave; then each test with its limit and the result at each pull. It marks each pull pass or fail, finds the last day everything passed, takes the margin off, and gives the shelf life for the label and the date for a batch made today. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
Seven-day soup moves fast. Four soups a week, quarts at a co-op, the market and in subscription boxes: someone has to date each batch and send the oldest out first, every time.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack gives every batch its date from the shelf life you set, and sends the oldest out first.
Dates from the shelf life. Each quart of soup carries its shelf life in days, and each batch's lot gets its production date and the date that follows from it.
First-expired-first-out. Orders take the oldest lots first by default, and a co-op can be set to take only stock with enough days left.
What's coming up. A forecast shows what will expire unsold and what it costs, and anything thrown out is recorded with its reason, expired or spoiled, so waste shows by item.
| The job | Spreadsheet | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| The date on a batch | Worked out by hand | From the shelf life, on the lot |
| Which batch goes out first | Dates on tape | First-expired-first-out |
| Stock with enough days for a co-op | Checked by hand | The customer's shelf-life rule |
| What expired last month | Not counted | Waste by reason |
Lots, dates, first-expired-first-out and the expiry forecast 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.