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Businesses Can Set Their Own Shelf Periods—but Must Carry Full Responsibility for Safety and Quality
Pooja Srivastava
Anytime News Network
For consumers buying sweets, the question of freshness and safety is now closely linked to a date that food businesses themselves will determine.
The Food Safety and Drug Administration Department has clarified that no single, uniform shelf life is being imposed on sweets and confectionery products. Instead, food businesses will determine the ‘use-by’ period of their products based on their ingredients, manufacturing process, nature of the product and storage conditions.
Date Decided by Business
The flexibility gives food businesses responsibility for deciding how long their products remain suitable for consumption. But that responsibility comes with a serious obligation: the declared period cannot merely be a date printed on packaging.
If a business declares a five-day use-by period for a sweet, it must ensure that the product continues to meet prescribed quality and food-safety requirements throughout those five days.
No One-Size-Fits-All Rule
The department says different sweets have different ingredients, preparation methods and storage conditions, making a uniform shelf life impractical.
However, the flexibility also places greater importance on the credibility of the period declared by individual businesses.
The uncomfortable question for consumers is straightforward: what scientific and operational basis is being used to determine that a particular sweet remains safe for the entire declared period?
Consumer Must Know
The department has emphasised that consumers must receive clear information about how long a sweet or other food product remains suitable for use.
A clearly declared use-by period is intended to help consumers make informed decisions about freshness and safety.
Trust Comes With Accountability
The department has placed trust in food businesses by allowing them to determine the appropriate use-by period for their products. At the same time, it has made clear that businesses will be responsible for maintaining quality and food safety throughout the period they declare.
That makes enforcement crucial.
The real test will not be whether a date is printed on a package or displayed to customers. The test will be whether the product actually remains safe and meets the required quality standards until that date.
For consumers, the system ultimately rests on transparency, accountability and effective monitoring. The declared date may belong to the business—but the risk of relying on it is ultimately carried by the consumer.
