In this guide 6 sections
Food makers lose stock to expiry because dates live on cartons, not in a list anyone reads, and store staff pick whatever sits nearest the door. Record expiry per lot. Pick first expired first out. Raise alerts weeks ahead. Decide returns by rule.
Why walking the racks does not work
A storekeeper walking the racks sees pallets, not dates, because the expiry sits on a printed panel on the side of a carton, often facing the wall. A pallet behind a newer one vanishes. Dates hide in plain sight.
Snacks, bakery and frozen lines make it worse, since each has its own life, from a few days for fresh bakery to many months for frozen packs. One warehouse holds all three. No one memorises those rules.
The loss shows up late. A pallet is found during stock taking and written off as damage, and the cause is never traced, so the cartons are already months past their date. It sat in a third rack corner.
- Dates printed on carton sides facing walls
- New stock stacked in front of old
- Mixed lines with different lives in one store
- Write offs booked as damage
Record expiry per lot at the door
The fix starts at goods receipt from the packing line, where every pallet gets a lot number, a production date and an expiry date. Print them as text and barcode. Labels do the work.
Scan the label into the stock record when the pallet is put away, with its rack location, so the system knows which rack holds which lot. A list of expiring stock then takes seconds, and reports sorted by expiry, rack and customer become possible once dates stop living on cardboard sides.
For bought in items such as film or seasoning, record the supplier’s expiry the same way, since both can age out before the pouch is filled.
Pick first expired first out
FEFO means the lot with the earliest expiry leaves first, even if it arrived later than a fresher lot sitting nearer the dock door. A first in first out rule is weaker, because a lot made last week can carry a shorter life than one made earlier.
Give pickers a handheld scanner that rejects a lot newer than one still available, plus a printed pick list sorted by expiry. Exceptions need a reason. The picker writes it down, and the stores manager reviews overrides weekly to see which customers or shifts generate most of them.
Customers add a twist. Some buyers refuse cartons with less than a set share of life left, so store that rule against the customer and block short dated lots. Sales and the warehouse should agree those limits once and enter them, because a picker cannot phone anyone at the dock.
- Pick list sorted by earliest expiry
- Scan check at the pallet
- Customer rule for minimum remaining life
- Override reason recorded
Set near expiry alerts that someone acts on
An unread report is no report. Set alerts at two points: one early enough to sell the stock through a discount or a different channel, and one late enough to pull it from the shelf. Pick the window per product.
Send the early alert to the sales head with the lot, quantity and rack, and send the late one to the stores manager who can pull the lot. Each alert must name a decision: promote, redirect to staff sales, rework or destroy the lot before the date passes.
Frozen and bakery stock needs shorter windows than packed snacks, so set the alert days per product rather than one rule for the store. Small alerts acted on weekly beat a large clearance every year, because stock moved early sells at a price the buyer still accepts.
Handle returns of short dated cartons by rule
Cartons that come back from a distributor are the hardest case, because some are fine, some are damaged and some expired on the shelf. Book each return against the original invoice and lot, so the credit note matches what was shipped and the distributor cannot claim for cartons you never sent. Credit follows the lot.
Inspect each carton on arrival. Restock only if the life left meets your own limit and the carton is clean, then send the rest to rework or to a destruction record signed by QA.
Review the monthly list of write offs by product and customer, then pick the worst line and change one rule this week. Keep the destruction record for the auditor.
Near expiry review sheet
A weekly page lists every lot inside its alert window, sorted by days left and grouped by product so the stores manager reads it in a minute. Columns hold product, lot, expiry date, quantity, rack, days left, the decision (promote, redirect, rework or destroy), the owner and the outcome once acted on. A lower block summarises returned cartons by customer, reason and final handling, so a distributor who keeps returning short dated cases shows up at once.
Open a blank worksheet to printQuestions owners ask
What is the difference between FEFO and FIFO?
FIFO ships what arrived first. FEFO ships what expires first. With food, a later batch can carry a shorter life than an earlier one, which is why FEFO is the safer rule for a mixed store.
Do we need barcodes on every pallet?
Not on day one. A printed label with lot and expiry helps, but scanning removes typing mistakes and lets the system block a wrong pick.
How early should a near expiry alert fire?
It depends on the product. Fresh bakery needs days, frozen lines need weeks. Set the window by how long your team needs to sell the stock through a discount or move it to another channel.
Can returned cartons go back on the shelf?
Only if your own rule allows it. Check remaining life, carton condition and storage history against your own limit, and have QA sign the decision before anything goes back on a rack.