Post Date: May 20, 2019

New ‘Best If Used By’ Terminology for the Food Processing Industry

All the bad press about foodborne illnesses are causing many people to discard food unnecessarily in the U.S. In fact, more than 1/3 of all available food goes uneaten through waste or loss, and 1 in 6 Americans fall prey to food safety issues in a given year. This is driving the FDA to implement more stringent date labeling requirements on food which make it clearer and easier for consumers to determine when a food should be tossed.

The FDA is supporting the food industry’s efforts to standardize the terminology used on voluntary quality-based date labeling on packaged foods.  Over time, the FDA expects to see the multitude of various date labels used to be reduced as industry aligns upon a more standardized best practice—the Best If Used By terminology.”

Regarding changes to food date codes, some of the efforts are already underway and being adopted by many food producers. The FDA’s support of this approach serves to further accelerate industry adoption.

AT Information Products is supporting the Food Processing Industry ecosystem through its compelling line of industrial Markoprint® coders. Markoprint® is ideal for printing a range of variable codes including expiration dates, lot/batch codes, and more. Many of the largest manufacturers in Food & Beverage, Consumer Goods, Personal Care and Tobacco trust Markoprint® industrial inkjet coders to keep their production lines up and running.

Take a close look at product packaging the next time you visit the grocery store or discount warehouse. Date codes on products must be crisp, clear, and easy to read by the consumer. Markoprint® coders are capable of printing up to 300 x 600 dots per inch, but customers can select a lower resolution to optimize cost-per-code and still meet print quality requirements.

The Markoprint® X1Jet and X1Jet Stitch are compact and priced affordably. The industrial coders come with iDesign software for easy message creation. A wide range of date formats are possible with Markoprint®, including date offsets for various Expire Date applications. Check out the various industrial inkjet coder videos on the AT Information Products site and see why Markoprint® is the best value industrial inkjet coder that money can buy.