Food Safety Atlas

Labels, date marks and shelf life

Decision 1 of 8

Decide which food needs a label

What happens

Sort what you pack: food sold to the public, food sold to a caterer or another business, and food packed at the customer's request.

Good looks like

Each packed product has a written answer, including packs made in one kitchen and sold at another site.

How it goes wrong

Grab-and-go made in a central kitchen goes out unlabelled, because the cafes that sell it have never labelled their own.

Does this product have to carry a full label?Yes: Build the label for each market it reachesNo: Record why, and give the information another way
Who
Technical

In Australia and New Zealand, packaged retail food needs a full label unless, for example, it is made and packaged where it is sold, or packed in front of the buyer. Unlabelled food still owes information, displayed or on request. Singapore's rule covers food packed in advance ready for sale. Malaysia exempts perishable cooked food only when packed on retail premises on a customer's demand, not food pre-packed in advance.

1.2.1-6, 1.2.1-9, 1.2.1-15, 1.2.1-20; Food Regulations (Singapore) reg 2, reg 5, reg 6; Food Regulations 1985 (Malaysia) reg 9, reg 17