Import shelf-life calculator
When is the last day your consignment may arrive?
Customs won’t clear food with less than 60% of its shelf life left, or three months — whichever is less. The answer is a date you can put in a contract.
Example dates — replace with your label’s
Last day the consignment may arrive
—
Total shelf life
60% of shelf life
Three months before expiry
Governing rule (whichever is less)
“Whichever is less” is read wrongly both ways.On a two-year product, three months governs — the window is wider than most importers assume. On a sixty-day product, 60% is 36 days — far tighter than anyone plans for.
FSS (Import) Regulations 2017, reg. 5(6); shelf life measured from the label, reg. 2(w)
Shipping soon? We’ll check the whole consignment.
Book a free 10-minute check. A person — not a bot — calls you back within working hours, tells you exactly which licence you need and what it costs, before you commit to anything.
- Government fee paid by you, directly to FSSAI
- Filed under your own FoSCoS login
- Fixed fee, confirmed in writing before we start
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