Best-before dates in wholesale: what retailers should ask about shelf life

What is the difference between best before and use by?

A best-before date is the date until which a food keeps its specific properties when stored correctly. A use-by date replaces it on foods that are highly perishable from a microbiological point of view. Under Article 24 of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, a food is deemed unsafe after its use-by date.

Most products a kiosk or vending operator buys, such as chips, noodles, fruit gummies and canned drinks, carry a best-before date. Toys such as squishies carry neither, so this guide is about your food and drink range.

How is the date written on a pack?

Annex X of the regulation sets the format, which explains why dates look so different on different products. If the date includes the day, it reads “best before …”; otherwise it reads “best before end …”.

For foods that keep for under three months, day and month are enough. For three to 18 months, month and year are enough. Above 18 months, the year alone is sufficient. A carton marked with only a month and year can therefore be perfectly correct, but you should read it as the end of that period. Note it in your records in the same format.

May a retailer sell food past its best-before date?

In Germany, passing the best-before date does not trigger a sales ban, as the consumer association Verbraucherzentrale explains (as of 2 October 2025). The product is not automatically spoiled. But from that date, responsibility moves from the manufacturer to the retailer, who must check carefully that the goods are still in perfect condition and point out that the date has passed.

Food past its use-by date must not be sold. Rules and enforcement in other member states may differ, so check with your food authority. Our practical advice is simple: for a small shop, selling past the date is rarely worth the effort, and trend snacks in particular should leave the shelf well before it.

Is there a legal minimum shelf life between businesses?

We know of no general EU rule that fixes how much remaining life a wholesaler must deliver. In practice it is a matter of agreement. Large retailers and marketplaces set their own minimums, and those change, which is why you should check the current rules of any fulfilment centre yourself. Our fulfilment checklist covers intake.

So ask before you order, and ask in writing. A wholesaler that answers with a real date is more useful to you than one that promises something general.

How much shelf life do you actually need?

Start with your own sales. The formula is: packs in the carton divided by packs sold per week gives weeks needed. Add a safety margin for slow weeks and holidays.

Example with made-up sales figures: a carton of Buldak holds 40 packs. A shop selling five a week needs eight weeks. With a buffer of four weeks, it wants at least twelve weeks of remaining shelf life. A carton of Takis holds 18 bags. If the same shop sells nine a week, it needs two weeks, and a shorter date is much less of a concern.

Two conclusions follow. Slow items need the longest dates, not the fastest ones. And if the sum does not work for a full carton, the answer is not to accept the risk but to order a different item, because a carton cannot be split. Our guide on order sizes from carton to pallet explains how order units work.

What should you ask your wholesaler?

1. What is the best-before date of the batch you will ship? 2. If an order covers several cartons, do they share a date, or will the dates differ? 3. Is the date on the carton the same as on the single packs? 4. Can you see a photo of the label? 5. What happens if a delivery arrives with a date other than the one you were told? 6. For short-dated items, is this clearly marked before you buy?

Check each delivery on arrival. Compare the date with the answer you received, and raise any difference at once rather than weeks later.

How do you manage dates in the shop?

Sell the earliest date first. That sounds obvious, but in a small stockroom new cartons often end up in front of old ones. Write the date large on the outside of each carton, and check the shelf on a fixed day each week. Vending operators face a special version of this problem, covered in our guide to trend products for vending machines.

Also note date and lot for each delivery. Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 requires food businesses to be able to identify who supplied them and whom they supplied. The date and lot are also what you will need in a recall. On 24 April 2026, for example, lebensmittelwarnung.de listed Buldak Carbonara 130 g with best-before date 12.11.2026 and lot M6: without those details, you cannot tell whether your stock is affected.

Online sellers should remember that food sold at a distance must carry all mandatory particulars at delivery, including the date. Our guide on EU food labelling lists the rest.

How does MDH handle best-before dates?

We do not state a general remaining shelf life here, because it depends on the item and the batch. Ask us by email or WhatsApp before you order if a date matters to you. We sell full cartons with no minimum order value, so you can buy what you can realistically sell and reorder when needed.

Delivery within Germany usually takes 24–48 hours, which helps keep your stock low; we deliver to all EU countries. Create a trade account to see prices.

Sources

• Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Article 24 (legislation.gov.uk, as adopted)
• Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011, Annex X (legislation.gov.uk, as adopted)
• Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum (MHD) ist nicht gleich Verbrauchsdatum (Verbraucherzentrale, Stand 02.10.2025)
• Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, general food law including traceability (EUR-Lex)
• Samyang Instant Nudeln Scharfes Huhn Carbonara, 130 Gramm (lebensmittelwarnung.de, 24.04.2026)