Instead, sellers must determine and clearly declare the period based on the ingredients, manufacturing process, nature of the sweet and storage conditions.
Ahead of the October 15 implementation of Uttar Pradesh’s new guidelines making “Use By” dates mandatory on sweets, the Food Safety and Drug Administration (FSDA) clarified that sweet shops will not have to follow a uniform shelf life for all varieties.
The flexibility, however, comes with responsibility. FSSAI guidance also recognises differences in shelf life, ranging from highly perishable milk-based sweets to products with substantially longer shelf lives. Under the clarified approach, a sweet seller cannot treat the declared date as merely a label. For instance, if a shop declares that a particular sweet can be consumed for five days, it must ensure the product continues to meet prescribed quality and food-safety requirements throughout those five days.
Once a seller declares a “Use By” period, the seller is accountable for the sweet’s quality and food safety throughout the declared period. The department said imposing one fixed shelf life on all sweets would not be practical as their ingredients, preparation methods and storage requirements vary considerably. The department said food business operators will have the freedom to determine the appropriate period but will simultaneously bear responsibility for the product’s safety and quality for the entire period they declare.
The approach is also consistent with FSSAI’s earlier direction that food business operators should decide the “Best Before Date” for sweets based on the product’s nature and local conditions, rather than applying one common shelf life to all sweets.
