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California food date labeling

California AB 660 food date labeling: scope, exemptions, and required terms

Published 2026-07-19 · Updated 2026-07-19

California's standardized date-label requirements now apply through current Food and Agricultural Code section 82001. They apply to covered food manufactured on or after July 1, 2026. They do not require every food to carry a date.

California

Current FAC 82001 applies

Operative for covered food manufactured on or after July 1, 2026.

New York

S7618B / A7291B is pending

Passed both chambers, but is not law as of July 19, 2026.

California status

Current requirement

Manufacture-date trigger

July 1, 2026

Last verified

July 19, 2026

Does California FAC 82001 apply?

Use these four questions for an initial screen. Product-specific federal and state rules still need their own review.

  1. 01 · Product

    Is it food for human consumption?

    The section is written for food items for human consumption.

  2. 02 · Manufacture date

    Was it manufactured on or after July 1, 2026?

    The labeling and sale restrictions use this manufacture-date boundary.

  3. 03 · Market

    Will it be sold or offered for sale in California?

    The sale restrictions apply to food sold or offered for sale in the state.

  4. 04 · Date use

    Does the label communicate a quality or safety date?

    The responsible labeler may choose the date, or another law may require it.

The important boundary

FAC 82001 does not itself require every food to display a date label. It controls the terminology when a quality or safety date is used or otherwise required.

California exemptions and special cases

Keep express exemptions separate from allowances and conflict rules. They do not mean the same thing.

Express exemptions

  • Infant formula
  • Eggs or pasteurized in-shell eggs
  • Beer and other malt beverages

Allowances and conflict rules

  • A conflicting shellfish rule authorized by other law or the National Shellfish Sanitation Program controls.
  • A provision that federal law preempts does not apply or get enforced.
  • Specified wine and distilled-spirit production, manufacturing, bottling, or packaging dates may remain.
  • Grocery-store prepared food may use packed on when it also carries a compliant quality or safety date.
  • A passed quality date does not by itself bar sale, donation, or use.

The date wording California uses

The labeler must first decide whether the date communicates quality or safety. FAC 82001 does not provide one universal method for making that decision.

Quality date

Peak freshness or quality

  • BEST if Used by
  • BEST if Used or Frozen by
  • BB only when the item is too small for the full phrase or is a qualifying beverage.

Safety date

Last date for safe consumption

  • USE by
  • USE by or Freeze by
  • UB only when the item is too small for the full phrase.

Consumer-facing “sell by”

Covered food may not use the phrase sell by.

Coded stock-rotation date

A coded date may remain when consumers cannot easily read it and it does not use the words sell by.

Six implementation checks

These are Mirelis review prompts, not a checklist issued by California.

The goal is to verify every system that can place or change the date, not only the approved artwork file.

  1. 01 · Inventory

    Separate product by manufacture date

    Identify which lots were manufactured before and on or after July 1, 2026.

  2. 02 · Artwork

    Review every approved label version

    Check the exact phrase, capitalization, date use, and any packed-on statement.

  3. 03 · Variable printing

    Check printers and retail scales

    Review templates, abbreviations, programmed terms, and user-selectable options.

  4. 04 · External production

    Confirm supplier and co-manufacturer instructions

    Make sure outside production sites have the current wording and effective revision.

  5. 05 · Technical basis

    Record why the date is quality or safety

    Keep the shelf-life work and decision behind the selected classification.

  6. 06 · Printed output

    Test and approve the actual result

    Verify a printed sample from each system and retain the approval with the product file.

Pending New York bill

What S7618B / A7291B would add

New York's bill passed both chambers but is not law as of July 19, 2026. Every requirement below remains conditional.

The bill would use similar date phrases, but it also adds evidence, education, signage, and timing provisions that are not part of California FAC 82001.

Date terms

The four full quality and safety phrases would match California. BB and UB would be limited to products too small for the full wording.

Shelf-life evidence

The party placing the date would need a scientifically valid shelf-life method acceptable to the state departments named in the bill.

Retail and wholesale signage

Future rules would require specified sellers to post information for customers and employees about quality and safety dates.

Express exemptions

The pending text expressly exempts infant formula and any alcoholic beverage. It does not contain California's separate egg exemption.

Timing if enacted

The act would take effect 180 days after becoming law. The terminology duty would begin one year after that effective date.

Manufacture-date boundary

The sale restrictions would apply to food manufactured on or after July 1, 2028. That date is in the pending bill, not a current New York requirement.

California and New York at a glance

California is current law. New York is included only to show what would change if its bill becomes law.

Question California FAC 82001 New York S7618B / A7291B
StatusCurrent requirementPassed both chambers; not law
Manufacture triggerJuly 1, 2026July 1, 2028, if enacted
Express exemptionsInfant formula; eggs or pasteurized in-shell eggs; beer and other malt beveragesInfant formula; any alcoholic beverage
BB useToo-small product or qualifying beverageToo-small product only, if enacted
Shelf-life methodNo universal method stated in FAC 82001Scientifically valid method required, if enacted
SignageNo equivalent duty in FAC 82001Customer and employee signage rules, if enacted

Keep watching state date-label requirements

Use the free state tracker to check the current California and New York records. Ask about Tracker access if your team needs a maintained monitoring view instead of a point-in-time article.

Open the free state tracker Ask about Tracker access

Primary sources

This article provides general information, not legal advice. Recheck the current California code and New York bill status before acting on a specific product.

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