Stock control and date marking

Good stock control keeps food safe and reduces waste. Use the first in, first out rule. New stock goes behind or below older stock, so that the oldest is used first. Store food off the floor. Keep dry goods in closed containers. Do not top up a container with new stock, because old food stays at the bottom. If you decant food, label the container with the contents, allergens and date.

A use-by date is about safety. A best before date is about quality. Do not sell or use food after its use-by date, even if it looks and smells fine, because harmful bacteria cannot be seen or smelt. Food past its best before date can legally be sold if it is safe and still of good quality. Many businesses still choose not to use it.

Follow the storage instructions on the label. 'Once opened, use within 3 days' overrides a later printed date. When you open a pack of high-risk food, or take it out of its original packaging, give it a new label with the correct date, based on the maker's instructions.

Food you make yourself needs a date too. Label it with the name of the food, the date it was made and its use-by date. Your system should set the shelf life for each type of food. The person who sets a date is responsible for its being safe. If you make food from ready-to-eat ingredients, its shelf life should not be longer than that of the shortest-lived ingredient, unless further processing makes this safe. Ready-to-eat chilled food with a longer shelf life may need testing, because of Listeria.

Never change a date to get more time out of a product. This is different from freezing food correctly. You may freeze food if it is suitable for freezing, but you must do it before the use-by date and note the date you froze it. Once defrosted, use it within 24 hours.

Check stock every day. Go through each fridge, remove anything out of date, and move short-dated food to the front. Avoid over-ordering, because too much stock creates pressure to use food that should be thrown away. Throw away food that is out of date, and label it so that nobody uses it by mistake while it waits for collection.

Here is an example. On Monday, a chef opens a tub of ready-made coleslaw with a use-by date of Friday. The label says to use within 2 days of opening. The new date is Wednesday, and the chef must label it. By Thursday, the printed date no longer applies, because the coleslaw must already have been thrown away.