Food Rotation

The total impact of an inferior food rotation program includes the cost of regulatory incompliance fines, potential lawsuits due to foodborne illnesses and lost revenue due to a tainted brand. Avoid this by using genuine Daydots labels to enforce the FIFO method (First In, First Out) to ensure food is served fresh and is safe to eat.

What is the FIFO Principle?

FIFO stands for “First In, First Out.” The FIFO principle states the foods that are received or prepared first should be used first. For this to be successful, the use-by dates should be clearly marked. New foods should always be placed behind older foods on shelves to make it easy for your employees to pull the correct food. According to the FDA Model Food Code, the date marked on the container or food item should be the use-by or discard date, not the date the food is prepared.

How Does the System Work?

Use day-of-the-week labels to indicate use-by dates. This requires doing some counting, when the labels are applied, to determine the use-by date.

Example: Today is Monday and you are labeling an item with a 3-day shelf life. A Wednesday label is applied to the item to indicate that the product should be used by the end of the day on Wednesday. 

What Are the Benefits?

A standardized system incorporating color-coded, day-of-the-week labels is a simple way to implement a food rotation system. A food rotation system has several benefits:

1. Employees can quickly and easily identify which food needs to be used or discarded

2. Food quality stays high because customers are served foods that are fresh

3. Foodborne illness risks are reduced significantly by helping ensure you are serving safe food

Contact us to learn more about Ecolab Food Safety Solutions.