Labelling Guidelines on Food Allergens, Food Additives and Date Format

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Publisher / author
Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety
Source language
English
Actually accessed
2026-11-04
Published date
Not confirmed
Material type
Government food-labelling guidance
Access status
Actually accessed
What this source cannot establish
Historical Hong Kong labelling guidance; used for date-format reading, not a comprehensive current legal checklist or a rule for other jurisdictions.

Supports: identified day month year may appear in different orders · allergen and ingredient reading context

Original source information

Bibliographic wording is preserved below for checking against the original source.

Original title
Labelling Guidelines on Food Allergens, Food Additives and Date Format
Original publisher / author
Hong Kong Centre for Food Safety
Original source language code
en
Original material type
government labelling guidance
Original supported topics
identified day month year may appear in different orders · allergen and ingredient reading context
Original access status
accessible
Recorded access date
2026-11-04
Recorded publication date
—
Original review notes
Historical Hong Kong labelling guidance; used for date-format reading, not a comprehensive current legal checklist or a rule for other jurisdictions.
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How to Read Labels in a Chinese Grocery Store · Dates and storage are part of the product

Locate the date and read the words around it: is it a production date, a best-before date, or a use-by date? Do not interpret a bare string such as 03/04/27 until the date format is clear. Hong Kong CFS guidance permits different date orders when the day, month and year are identified; familiar order alone is not reliable. Ask the supplier when the format cannot be established.