Labelling food at home and in the kitchen: what to write
A good label answers three questions in a second: what it is, when it was prepared or opened, and by when it must be eaten.
General guidance for a fridge at 0–4 °C and a freezer at −18 °C. Always follow the instructions on the pack and, when in doubt, throw it out.
The essential information
- Name of the product or preparation.
- Date of preparation, opening or freezing.
- Use-by date.
- Who prepared it (useful at home, essential in a kitchen).
In professional kitchens
Restaurants, bars and canteens follow HACCP self-checking procedures, which require products to be identified and traced. Besides the data above, storage (fridge, freezer, blast-chilled), allergens and batch or supplier are often added. The exact rules depend on your business's HACCP manual: follow that.
Labels that last
- The freezer needs cold-resistant labels: ordinary ones peel off.
- Marker pen smudges with condensation: printed labels are better.
- Portable thermal printers (Bluetooth) print in seconds with no ink.
A QR code instead of a marker
A label with a QR code links the product to a full record: scan it and see the expiry, the place, who stored it and what happened. When you use it or throw it away, you record it with one tap.
Frequently asked questions
What should a frozen food label say?
The name, the freezing date and the use-by date; in a kitchen also who prepared it.
Is HACCP labelling mandatory?
Food businesses' HACCP self-checking procedures require product traceability: the details are set in each business's manual.
Which labels work in the freezer?
Labels made for low temperatures, ideally printed: ordinary paper ones peel off or smudge.
QR labels in a second
ConservoCibo prints QR labels on Niimbot Bluetooth printers, network printers or A4 sheets. Scan the QR and see the product's whole story. Designed for restaurants too, with shared archives for the whole team.
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