Date Marking

Food (with some exceptions) shall be date-marked if it is:

• Prepared on-site or commercially processed (open and cold hold), and
• Refrigerated, and
• Ready-to-eat, and
• TCS, and
• Held for more than 24 hours

NOTE:

• Mark the food with the date by which it must be consumed on premises or sold or discarded.
• Maximum of seven (7) days when held at 41° F. or below. The day the food was prepared, or the day commercially processed food was opened, counts as day one.

Listeria: A pathogenic bacteria that can cause a serious and sometimes deadly infection. This bacteria can multiply in refrigerated foods. For more information, see the following website:

http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/dfbmd/disease_listing/ listeriosis_gi.html

Pathogens: Bacteria, viruses or parasites that cause disease.

Time-Temperature Control for Safety (TCS) Food: Any food that supports bacteria multiplication that requires time/ temperature control for safety. The term now includes cut tomatoes.

Ready-to-eat Food: Food that may be safely eaten without additional cooking, washing or additional preparation and is expected to be consumed in that form.

Each food establishment is responsible for developing a datemarking system. Discuss your system, including procedures to discard food, with your inspector. Your date-marking system must be made available to the health department upon request.

Examples of date marking:

• Colored or dated stickers
• Marker and tape labels

Freezing food stops the date marking clock but does not reset it. If food is placed in a freezer, indicate the length of time the food was held refrigerated before freezing on the label.

When food is removed from the freezer, the food needs to be consumed or sold within 7 days minus the time before freezing.

Please note, you are required to discard food when:

• Ready-to-eat, TCS food is opened or prepared more than 7 days ago without being consumed on premises or sold.
• Ready-to-eat, TCS food that is not labeled with date marking.

Remember to rotate all food on a first-in, first-out system for freshness.

If you have questions, please contact your inspector.