In Korea, from January 2023, the Act on Labeling and Advertising of Food was revised to reflect the use-by-date rather than the sell-by-date. Hence, the purpose of this study was to establish a system for calculating the safety factor and determining the recommended use-by-date for each food type, thereby providing a scientific basis for the recommended use-by-date labels. A safety factor calculation technique based on scientific principles was designed through literature review and simulation, and opinions were collected by conducting surveys and discussions including industry and academia, among others. The main considerations in this study were pH, Aw, sterilization, preservatives, packaging for storage improvement, storage temperature, and other external factors. A safety factor of 0.97 was exceptionally applied for frozen products and 1.0 for sterilized products. In addition, a between-sample error value of 0.08 was applied to factors related to product and experimental design. This study suggests that clearly providing a safe use-by-date will help reduce food waste and contribute to carbon neutrality.

In this study, the quality safety limit period of seven types of bakery bread was analyzed, and their use-by date was calculated. For evaluating product quality, storage conditions were set as 5, 15, 25, and 35oC for 50 days, and moisture, microorganisms, sensory characteristics, and dominant bacteria were examined. The quality and safety standards followed the Korea Food Code and Korean industrial standards (KS). The results showed that all products stored at 5oC satisfied the standard for bacterial count for day 50, but the sensory quality was below the standard level. Samples stored at 15oC showed high variability from 3–39 days. At 25oC, a quality safety limit period of 2–20 days was set, and one sample was found to have the same shelf life. Bread stored at 35 °C had the shortest quality safety limit period. Considering a safety factor of 0.87, a use-by date period of 1.7–13.1 days was calculated. Therefore, setting the use-by date according to the product type is necessary, even for the same product category. Among the bread products sold in bakeries, those managed as room temperature products (1–35oC) can be distributed and stored in a temperature range of up to 35oC. Overall, this study demonstrates the importance of setting a quality retention period based on the product characteristics and carefully considering the safety factor.