Consumer understanding of food safety on labels advice is improving but there is still room for improvement.

There has been a lot of interest in recent years about how consumers understand and use the nutrition information on food labels to assist them in making healthier food choices. However, the food safety components on food labels, such as ‘use by’ and ‘best before’ dates, as well as cooking and storage instructions, have received less attention. This is despite the fact that this labelling, if followed correctly, plays an important role in reducing the risk of foodborne illness.

The food business attaching the label is responsible for deciding whether a use-by date or a best-before date is needed as well as what the actual date will be.

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Source: http://foodaust.com.au Written by Lydia Buchtmann and Patricia Desmarchelier

09.09.09 image by Till Westermayer. Some rights reserved (CC BY-SA 2.0)