Establishes standards for food date labeling; requires Commissioner of Health to establish public education program and promulgate guidelines related to food safety.

A2031

ASSEMBLY, No. 2031

STATE OF NEW JERSEY

222nd LEGISLATURE

�

PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2026 SESSION

Sponsored by:

Assemblywoman SHAMA A. HAIDER

District 37 (Bergen)

Assemblywoman ALIXON COLLAZOS-GILL

District 27 (Essex and Passaic)

Assemblyman� RAVI S. BHALLA

District 32 (Hudson)

SYNOPSIS

���� Establishes standards for food date labeling;
requires Commissioner of Health to establish public education program and
promulgate guidelines related to food safety.

CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT

���� Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative
Counsel.

��

An Act
concerning food date labels
,
supplementing
Title 24 of the Revised Statutes, and amending P.L.1964, c.62.

����
Be It
Enacted
by the Senate and General Assembly of
the State of New Jersey:

���� 1.��� (New section)� As used
in sections 1 through 6 of P.L. , c. (C. )
(pending before the Legislature as this bill):

���� "Elevated-risk date"
means the date, established by the manufacturer, indicated on the packaging or
container of food after which there is a high level of risk associated with the
consumption of the food.�

���� �Food� shall have the same
meaning as provided in section 2 of P.L.1982, c.178 (C.24:4A-2), but shall
exclude alcoholic beverages.

���� �Quality date� means a date,
established by the manufacturer, indicated on the packaging or container of
food after which the quality of the food may begin to deteriorate, but is still
acceptable for consumption.�

���� �Time/temperature control for
safety food" means food that requires time/temperature control for safety
in accordance with the United States Food and Drug Administration Food Code, as
published in 2013, to limit pathogenic microorganism growth or toxin formation.

���� 2.��� (New section)� a.� If a
food manufacturer or retail food facility

chooses to include a quality date on food sold or offered for
sale in the State, the quality date shall be displayed in accordance with this
section.

���� �b.�� The quality date shall:

���� (1)�� be displayed with the
uniform phrase �BEST if Used By�; and

���� (2)
be expressed by the first three letters of the month, followed by
the numerals designating the appropriate calendar day and year, or by
expressing the calendar month numerically followed by numerals designating the
calendar day and year.

���� �c.��� This section shall not
prohibit or be construed to discourage the sale, donation, or use of food after
the food's quality date has passed.

���� �d.�� A retail food facility shall
not be liable for a manufacturer�s failure to properly label food in accordance
with this section.

���� 3.��� (New section)� a.� A
food manufacturer may include an elevated-risk date on a time/temperature
control for safety food sold or offered for sale in the State.

���� b.��� An elevated-risk date on
food shall:

���� (1)�� be displayed with the
uniform phrase �USE By�; and

���� (2)��
be expressed by the first three letters of
the month, followed by the numerals designating the appropriate calendar day
and year, or by expressing the calendar month numerically followed by numerals
designating the calendar day and year.

���� �c.��� A retail food facility shall
not be liable for a manufacturer�s failure to properly label food in accordance
with this section.

���� �d.�� A retail food facility
shall not sell or donate food after the

food�s elevated-risk date.

���� �e.���
The Commissioner of Health
may
determine whether:

���� (1)�� additional foods shall be designated
as

time/temperature
control for safety foods;

���� (2)�� foods shall be exempt
from designation as time/temperature control for safety foods.

���� The Commissioner of Health shall post
any
determinations made pursuant to this subsection
on the Department of Health�s Internet website.

���� �4.�� (New section)� a.� A retail food facility shall not
sell or offer for sale food that is labeled with a �sell-by� date, or any date
that is intended to communicate primarily to a distributor or retailer for
purposes of stock rotation and that is not a quality date or an elevated-risk
date.

���� �
b.�� This section shall not prohibit the use of sell-by dates that
are presented in a coded format that is not easily readable by consumers.

���� �5.�� (New section)� The
Commissioner of Health shall establish a program to educate the public on food
date labeling.� The program shall include a public information campaign
disseminating information about the meaning of date labels and educating
consumers on how to handle food properly and when it can safely be consumed.�
This information shall distinguish between quality date labels that measure
quality and elevated-risk date labels that indicate safety in order to reduce
mistaken reliance on quality labels for judgments of food safety risk.�

���� �6.�� (New section)� The
Commissioner of Health, pursuant to the "Administrative Procedure
Act," P.L.1968, c.410 (C.52:14B-1 et seq.), shall
adopt rules and regulations to effectuate the purposes of this act.

���� �7.�� Section 23 of P.L.1964,
c.62 (C.24:10-57.23) is amended to read as follows:

���� �23.��� Containers of milk,
certified milk, Vitamin D milk, homogenized milk, low fat milk, protein
fortified low fat milk, skim milk, protein fortified skim milk, nonfat milk,
protein fortified nonfat milk, flavored milks and dairy drinks, buttermilk,
cultured buttermilk, yogurt, eggnog, creams, half-and-half and all other fluid
milk products designated by the department shall be marked with the name and
address of the processor or the pasteurizing plant number as assigned by the
department or the state of origin and the name and address of the distributor.�
All containers of fluid milk products, including those mentioned above,
intended for sale to consumers, (except for those products which are sterilized
and packaged in hermetically sealed containers), shall be
[
marked with a
legend "NOT TO BE SOLD AFTER" , or "SELL BY" , or any other
clearly understandable legend approved by the department, followed or
accompanied by the first three letters of the month where possible, but in no
instance less than two letters, or numerical designation approved by the
department to designate the month and the day of the month which shall be a
date established by the processor and which shall be based on consideration of
wholesomeness and consumer palatability of the product.� If two letters are
used the letters MR shall mean MARCH and MY shall mean MAY; JN shall mean JUNE
and JL shall mean JULY.� No fluid milk product listed in this section shall be
sold or offered for sale after 11:59 p.m. of the date appearing on the containers
so marked.�

���� The processor, prior to
determining the date beyond which any such fluid milk product may not be sold
or offered for sale, shall notify the department of the intended
"shelf-life expiration date" selected by him for such fluid milk
product intended for sale.� All data and material used by the processor or
manufacturer in his determination of this date shall be made available to the
commissioner upon request.� If the data and material submitted does not, in the
opinion of the commissioner, justify the "shelf-life expiration
date", the commissioner shall prohibit the sale of the product until such
time as satisfactory data is supplied or until a new "shelf-life
expiration date" consistent with the data is applied to the product.
]
�
labeled with
a quality date, in accordance with P.L. , c.��� (C.�������
) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

���� The department shall
periodically review the keeping quality of milk and milk products by scientific

[
shelf-life
]
tests,
recognizing the different methods of pasteurization, processing and packaging,
to determine that
[
shelf-life
expiration
]

quality
dates stated on the containers assure the consumer of acceptable
quality milk and milk products when kept under normal storage conditions.�
Samples for
[
shelf-life
]

quality

evaluation will be obtained at the processing plant, from delivery trucks or
from retail outlets.� The temperature of the sample at the time of collection
shall be officially recorded by the collector. Nothing herein contained shall
be construed to prohibit the department from taking special samples for
analysis and making special tests in order to assure all milk and milk products
comply with the minimum standards of freshness, quality and palatability. In
the event the department determines a processor's or a manufacturer's
[
shelf-life
]

quality
date
for a given product is improper, the department shall immediately take
such samples as are necessary for full and complete recheck of the
[
shelf-life
]

quality
date
of the product.� If the full and complete recheck confirms that the
[
shelf-life
]

quality
date
of the product is improper, the department shall serve written notice
on the processor or manufacturer and the processor or manufacturer immediately
upon receipt of
[
such
]

the

notice shall alter the
[
shelf-life
expiration
]

quality
date of the product to comply with the department findings.�
Compliance shall be with the next processing of the product after receipt of
[
such
]

the

department notice.� This rule
[
does
]

shall

not apply to containers of fluid milk products which are not to be sold in the
State of New Jersey.

����
As used in this section,
�quality date� shall have the same meaning as provided in section 1 of P.L.���
, c.��� (C.������� ) (pending before the Legislature as this bill).

(cf: P.L.1992, c.151, s.1)

����� 8.�� This
act shall take effect on July 1, 2019, except that the Commissioner of Health
may take any anticipatory administrative action in advance of this date as may
be necessary for the implementation of this act.� This act shall become
inoperative if a federal food labeling standard that preempts this act is
adopted and becomes effective.

STATEMENT

���� This bill would establish
standards for food date labeling and require the Department of Health to
establish a public education program and guidelines related to food safety.�

���� Under the bill, a manufacturer
may use food date labeling, but is required, if food date labels are used, to
follow the labeling standards provided in the bill.� A food date label may
indicate either:� (1) a �quality date� to indicate the date after which the
quality of food may begin to deteriorate, but is still acceptable for
consumption; or (2) an �elevated-risk date� to indicate the date, established
by the manufacturer, after which there is a high level of risk associated with
the consumption of a �time/temperature control for safety food.�� The bill
defines a �time/temperature control for safety food� as a food that requires
time/temperature control for safety, in accordance with the 2013 United States
Food and Drug Administration Food Code, to limit pathogenic microorganism
growth or toxin formation.� Quality dates would be displayed with the uniform
phrase �BEST if Used By� and elevated-risk dates would be displayed with the
uniform phrase �USE By.�

���� Under the bill, a retail food
facility would not be liable for a manufacturer�s failure to properly label
food in accordance with the bill.� Nothing in the bill would prohibit the sale,
donation, or use of food after the food�s quality date has passed.� However, a
retail food facility would be prohibited from selling or donating food after
its elevated-risk date.� A retailer would also be prohibited from selling food
labeled with a �sell-by� date, or any date that is intended to communicate
primarily to a distributor or retailer for purposes of stock rotation and that
is not a quality date or an elevated-risk date, unless the date is in a coded
format not easily readable by consumers.�

���� The bill would also change the
labeling requirements that must be used for fluid milk products from �sell by�
or �not to be sold after� to a quality date label as described above.�
Alcoholic beverages would be exempt from the bill�s provisions.�

���� The bill allows the Department
of Health to designate
additional
foods as
time/temperature control for safety foods, or exempt foods from
the designation.� The department would
post this information on its Internet website.
�

���� The bill would also require
the establishment of a public education program, which would include a public
information campaign about the meaning of date labels, and educating consumers
on how to handle food properly and when it can safely be consumed.