Manufacturing Date

The manufacturing date (also called date of manufacture or date of packing) is the calendar date on which a product was produced or packed into its final sellable form. Under FSSAI regulations, every pre-packaged food product sold in India must display the manufacturing date on its label in a clear, legible format. Together with expiry date or best-before date, it defines the product's usable window.

In dairy distribution, the manufacturing date is the single most important number on the pack. A pouch of pasteurized milk manufactured today has a shelf life of just 2-4 days under refrigeration. Distributors receiving stock must verify that the manufacturing date is current, accepting yesterday's production for a 3-day shelf-life product effectively halves the selling window. FEFO rotation at the godown level sorts stock by manufacturing date to ensure the oldest production ships first.

Digital distribution platforms capture manufacturing date during inward scanning and use it to automatically calculate remaining shelf life, flag near-expiry stock, and enforce dispatch rules. This is critical for distribution tracking and reducing the expiry-related losses that cost Indian dairy distributors 3-7% of revenue annually.