The Food and Drug Administration and the United States Department of Agriculture do not mandate that foods are date labeled. The only exception is infant formula. Infant food and formula is required to carry an expiration date to ensure nutrient value has not deteriorated. Any dates placed on food are because of STATE Law or the discretion of the manufacturer. States can regulate date labels in any way they desire and there are extreme variations among the fifty states. Connecticut Law requires date labeling on dairy products only. The law reads as follows: Each person, handler, firm or corporation shall clearly mark each container of milk or milk product, yogurt, cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, soft cheese, eggnog or sour cream offered for retail sale with a last sale date. In accordance with the provisions of chapter 54, the Milk Regulation Board shall adopt regulations establishing standards and criteria for label type size, color and wording that is consistent with national standards and said board may incorporate by reference the Nutritional Education and Labeling Act, 21 CFR 101 Every case, carton, or container of shell eggs may, but need not have legibly printed thereon…a date by which the eggs must be sold, which shall be referred to in these rules as the “sell by date”. The sell-by date shall be no more than 30 days after the pack date. It shall be stated in months and day using the three letter abbreviation of the month followed by the numerical day of the month and preceded by the term SELL BY or EXP. No shell eggs may be offered for sale or sold to a consumer or restaurant more than 45 days after the pack date. Food Dates are Not for Safety The FDA allows manufacturers to stamp their product with a date in order to help the seller determine how long to keep the product on display and to help the consumer use the product when it is of best quality. The date is in no way intended to be a food safety date. The only regulation is that if a manufacturer chooses to use a date on their product, then the FDA allows either coded letters and numbers (“closed dating”) to be used on shelf-stable products or if a calendar date is chosen (“open dating”) then the FDA requires that it contain the month, day and year along with a phrase explaining the meaning of that date.