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Inventory & AssetsAlso known as: First Expiry First Out

FEFO (First Expiry First Out)

A stricter inventory rule where stock with the earliest expiry date is dispatched first, regardless of when it was received.

Full definition

FEFO, First Expiry First Out, is the gold standard inventory rule for perishable and date-coded products. It says: always ship the stock with the earliest expiry first, regardless of which batch entered the warehouse first. FEFO is stricter than FIFO because two batches produced on different days may have different shelf lives, and expiry date is the only thing that matters to the customer.

FEFO is non-negotiable in dairy, bakery, fresh produce, and pharma. A dairy distributor violating FEFO on curd cups will face angry retailers within 48 hours because fresh product gets stuck behind near-expiry product.

Proper FEFO enforcement requires batch-level tracking, the order management system must know not just that it has 500 curd cups but that 200 expire Thursday and 300 expire Saturday, and pick the Thursday batch first.

Real-world example

A curd warehouse has two batches, Friday batch expiring Tuesday, and Saturday batch expiring Wednesday, FEFO dispatches the Friday batch first.

See FEFO (First Expiry First Out) in action

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