Packed on, PKD, MFG and production dates show when the food was packed or made. They are not expiration dates. The date to follow is the one marked BEST BY, USE BY or EXP.
If a package has only a packed-on date, count forward from it (or from the day you bought it) using the storage time for that food.
How to tell the two apart on a label
These are real label shapes. In each one, the first date is when it was made or packed and the second is when to use it by:
| Prefix on the label | What it means | Is it the expiry date? |
|---|---|---|
| PACKED ON, PKD, PACK DATE | Day the food was packed (common on store-packed meat and deli items) | No |
| MFG, MFD, MANUFACTURED | Day the product was made | No |
| PROD, PRODUCTION DATE, P | Day of production | No |
| ROASTED ON, BAKED ON | Day the coffee was roasted or the bread baked | No, but a guide to freshness |
| LOT, L, batch codes | Batch identifier; may contain a coded date | No |
| BEST BY, BB, BEST BEFORE | End of peak quality | Yes, the quality date |
| USE BY, UB, EXP, EXPIRES | Last day to use it | Yes, the one to follow |
Three clues when the words are missing or cut off:
- The earlier date is usually the pack date. A date that has already passed on the day you buy fresh food is almost never the use-by date.
- A date buried in a string of letters and numbers is usually a code. Lot codes often embed the production day, sometimes as a Julian number.
- The phrase next to the date decides. Federal rules for meat and poultry require a phrase immediately next to any calendar date explaining what it means, such as “packing” date, “sell by” or “use before.”
Still unsure? Type everything printed on the package, one line per line, into the expiration date decoder. It sorts packed-on dates and lot numbers from the date you should use.
Where a pack date is required
Federal law doesn't require expiration dates on food other than infant formula, but it does require pack dates on a few things, for tracing, not for you:
- Poultry. The immediate container or the shipping container of poultry products must be marked “by code or otherwise with the date of packing” (9 CFR 381.126). If it's a readable calendar date, it needs an explanatory phrase.
- Canned and other thermally processed, commercially sterile meat and poultry. Each container must carry a permanent code that identifies, at minimum, “the day and year the product was packed” (9 CFR 431.2(e)). That's why cans often show only a code. See how to read canned food codes.
- USDA-graded eggs. Cartons with the USDA grade shield must show the pack date as a three-digit day of the year (001 is January 1). Decode it in the Julian date converter or read how to read egg carton dates.
USDA says these pack dates exist “to help identify product lots and facilitate trace-back activities in the event of an outbreak of foodborne illness.” They also make recalls possible, so keep the packaging until you've used the food.
California adds one rule of its own. Under AB 660, starting July 1, 2026, a grocery store may put “packed on” on food it prepares or repackages in the store only if that food also shows a quality date (BEST if Used by) or safety date (USE by). See California's date label law.
Only a pack date? Count forward
When the pack date is all you have, use it as the start of the clock. For fresh food, the day you bought it is close enough, and federal storage times are written from purchase anyway. Some examples from FDA's storage chart, for a refrigerator at 40°F (4°C) or below:
| Food with only a pack date | Fridge time | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Store-packed ground beef or poultry | 1–2 days | Cook or freeze within 2 days of buying |
| Store-packed steaks, chops, roasts | 3–5 days | Cook or freeze within 5 days |
| Deli salads made in the store (egg, chicken, tuna, macaroni) | 3–5 days | Don't freeze |
| Eggs (pack date on the carton) | 3–5 weeks in the fridge | Keep in the carton on a shelf, not the door |
For other foods, use the food expiration calculator or the shelf life chart. Coffee with a roasted-on date and bread with a baked-on date are mostly quality questions: they go stale long before anything else. Throw out bread with any mold.
How FreshScan handles packed-on dates
Grabbing the packed-on date instead of the expiry date is an easy mistake, so FreshScan is built to avoid it. When the camera reads a label, dates next to PACKED ON, PKD, MFG or production wording, and lot numbers, are scored down. The date next to BEST BY, USE BY, SELL BY or EXP wins.
It still doesn't save anything silently. The confirmation card shows the full date and the date type it picked, and you confirm it before the item is saved. If a label has two dates that both look like expiry dates, the app lists both and asks which one to track. More on that in two dates on one label.
Store-packed meat and deli items often carry two dates. Point your iPhone at the label and FreshScan picks the date to track, not the packed-on date, then reminds you two days before it.
Free on theApp StoreFor the full list of date phrases and what each means, see sell by vs use by vs best by.
Questions people ask
Is the MFG date the expiration date?
No. MFG (or MFD) is the manufacturing date, the day the product was made. The date to use it by is the one labeled best by, use by or EXP. If a package shows only an MFG date, work out how long it keeps from the storage time for that food.
What does PKD mean on food?
PKD is short for packed, and PKD followed by a date is the day the food was packed. It tells you the food's age, not when to use it by.
How long is meat good after the packed-on date?
Store-packed raw meat usually has a packed-on date and sometimes a sell-by date. Count from the day you buy it: FDA gives raw ground meat and poultry 1–2 days in the fridge, and steaks, chops and roasts 3–5 days. Freeze it if you won't cook it in time.
Why is there a three-digit number on my egg carton?
On cartons with the USDA grade shield, the three-digit number is the pack date as a day of the year: 001 is January 1 and 365 is December 31. You can convert it with a Julian date converter.
Sources
- Food Product Dating — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
- 9 CFR 381.126: Date of packing and date of processing; contents of cans — Code of Federal Regulations, via Cornell Legal Information Institute
- 9 CFR 381.129: False or misleading labeling or containers (calendar dates on poultry) — Code of Federal Regulations, via Cornell Legal Information Institute
- 9 CFR 431.2: Containers and closures (container coding for thermally processed products) — Code of Federal Regulations, via Cornell Legal Information Institute
- Refrigerator & Freezer Storage Chart — U.S. Food and Drug Administration
- Shell Eggs from Farm to Table — USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service
- AB 660 (Irwin, 2024): Food and beverage products: labeling: quality dates, safety dates, and sell-by dates — California Legislative Information