{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/food-labelling-regulations-1996/regulation-20",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/food-labelling-regulations-1996/regulation-20.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1996/1499",
  "legislation_title": "The Food Labelling Regulations 1996",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/food-labelling-regulations-1996",
  "path": "regulation/20",
  "kind": "regulation",
  "number": "20",
  "heading": "Form of indication of minimum durability",
  "text": "(1) Subject to the following paragraphs of this regulation, the minimum durability of a food shall be indicated by the words “best before” followed by—\n(a) the date up to and including which the food can reasonably be expected to retain its specific properties if properly stored, and\n(b) any storage conditions which need to be observed if the food is to retain its specific properties until that date.\n(2) The date in the indication of minimum durability shall be expressed in terms of a day, month and year (in that order), except that—\n(a) in the case of a food which can reasonably be expected to retain its specific properties for three months or less, it may be expressed in terms of a day and month only;\n(b) in the case of a food which can reasonably be expected to retain its specific properties for more than three months but not more than 18 months it may be expressed in terms of a month and year only, if the words “best before” are replaced by the words “best before end”, and\n(c) in the case of a food which can reasonably be expected to retain its specific properties for more than 18 months it may be expressed either in terms of a month and year only or in terms of a year only, if (in either case) the words “best before” are replaced by the words “best before end”.\n(3) Either—\n(a) the date up to and including which a food can reasonably be expected to retain its specific properties if properly stored, or\n(b) that date and any storage conditions which need to be observed if the food is to retain its specific properties until that date,\nmay appear on the labelling of a food separately from the words “best before” or “best before end”, as the case may be, provided that those words are followed by a reference to the place where the date (or the date and the storage conditions) appears (or appear).",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1499/regulation/20",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T12:42:11.542130+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}