5 replies to this topic

[Juliet1980]

Hello all,

 

Glad to be here. I have query with respect to retail pack coding. We are looking to import frozen ready to eat vegetarian ethnic snacks from India. Product will be frozen, packed in coded trays (for traceability) & retail packed (sleeved without coding) at manufacturer. Manufacturer will finally pack the sleeved product in outer cases which will have all traceability information and product details (name, weight, manufacturer/importer details).  Once in UK, importer will defrost product & add code on sleeve. This is because the product will be sold chilled and therefore the date coding will be as per shelf-life after defrost.

 

Question is, is it ok for us to import a retail packed product with no coding? 

 

Many thanks in advance.

 

 

[Scampi]

Nope nope and nope

 

Coding is based on MANUFACTURING date period

 

What the final customer choses to do is up to them-but you have ZERO control and therefor need to protect your own interest based on the state in which you sell it e.g. frozen 

Edited by Scampi, 02 August 2022 - 01:27 PM.

[Juliet1980]

Nope nope and nope

 

Coding is based on MANUFACTURING date period

 

What the final customer choses to do is up to them-but you have ZERO control and therefor need to protect your own interest based on the state in which you sell it e.g. frozen 

Thank you Scampi. Our agreed spec is shelf life of 18 months. The shelf life of product depends on when customer defrost the product & therefore manufacturer cannot precode sleeve. What manufacturer used to do in the past is top seal trays and customer finally add sleeve & do coding. Now we are trying to figure out if manufacturer could also do sleeving to help customer.

[JensV]

I would suggest to check with the relevant food authorities what the options are - if there are any. However, I can imagine that with certain export activities a similar approach is used.

 

Keep in mind that, adding a sleeve when still frozen, will mean also adding wrong product information (e.g.storage conditions mentioned on the sleeve will be already "store chilled" while the product is still frozen).

 

And bear in mind that, if the sleeve is for example cardboard, it can act weirdly during the freezing and thawing process, so be sure to check this also out.

[hello.fizz]

This is very interesting to read as we are also looking at selling a frozen product, that would be defrosted when dispatched to the retailer and sold as fresh (refrigerated). 

 

Our current plan is to put a batch number on it when it is packed, then when it is dispatched (and will defrost) we will apply a use by date. We are looking to use bags with MAP. 

 

We would include 'not suitable for freezing' on the label, but it would say the storage conditions are  'keep refrigerated <4C' (or something like that).

 

When importing product, there may be legal requirements to have at least a batch number on the external pack so an inspector can match these to your paperwork. 

[Charles.C]

Hi Juliet,

 

I deduce you are in UK, not India.

I assume the final product is neither vacuum nor MAP packed since this can be a different ball game.

The meaning/interpretation of "shelf life" can IMEX vary, eg some manufacturers initially bulk store various frozen ingredients which will later be re-used/portioned/mixed for a final packed, multi-component frozen mix. The shelf life applied to the mix is (rightly or wrongly) typically started from  the multi-component packed date.

Nonetheless, my guess is, as indicated post 2, that the answer to yr specific (import) date coding query is simply NO from a Regulatory POV, especially since an RTE item.

.

@ hfizz - the use of RTE/MAP/chilled introduces the risk of C.botulinum for which there are often specific Regulations concerning subsequent maximum labelled shelf life, et al.