What date and code should go on each bottle?

Print a lot code on every bottle, and add a "Best if used by" date if you want one. If you sell a shelf-stable acidified sauce, the code is a federal requirement: 21 CFR 114.80(b) says each container must carry a permanently visible code identifying the establishment, the product, and the year, day and period it was packed. A date is not federally required on hot sauce; FDA recommends the phrase "Best If Used By" when a date describes quality, which for a properly made shelf-stable sauce is what it does. This page shows how to build a code that ties each bottle to its batch record, and how to choose a date you can defend to a store buyer.

Two marks with two jobs

FDA and USDA both treat a best-by date as a statement about quality: the point after which color, flavor or texture may begin to slip [2] [3]. An experienced maker on The Hot Pepper forum (2017) reports that most hot sauces carry a best-by date rather than an expiration date [4].

Building the lot code

What Part 114 requires

For an acidified food, the code must be "permanently visible to the naked eye" and must identify "the establishment where the product was packed," "the product contained therein, and the year, day, and period during which it was packed" [1]. The period part has to change often enough to identify lots, at intervals of 4 to 5 hours, at a shift change, or by batch [1]. For most small makers, one code per batch is the simplest way to comply.

A format that works

Put the parts in a fixed order so anyone can read it. One common pattern uses the year, the day of the year (often called a Julian date), and a batch letter, with letters for the plant and product:

K H 26295 A K = your kitchen (or the copacker's plant code), H = habanero sauce, 26 = 2026, 295 = day 295 (October 22), A = first batch that day

Write the key down in your batch record binder so an inspector can decode any bottle. If you add a product or move to a copacker, add a letter rather than changing the pattern.

Applying it

The code has to stay readable for the life of the bottle. Options in rising order of cost:

1. A pre-printed space on the label filled with a fine permanent marker (slow, but workable for a few hundred bottles).
2. A hand-held date and code stamper on the label or cap, with ink that holds up on your label stock.
3. A thermal transfer or inkjet coder over the labeler, once you are filling thousands of bottles.

Test any method on a filled, chilled, sweaty bottle, because condensation after hot fill is where codes smear. The labels that stick page covers label stock and adhesives.

Tie the code to records

A code is only useful if it leads to paper. Every code should match one batch record, holding the formula, ingredient lots, pH readings, fill temperatures and the number of bottles filled. For acidified foods, Part 114 requires processing and production records to be kept for 3 years from the date of manufacture, and records of initial distribution so that a lot can be found and pulled if needed [1]. What those records must contain is on the batch records page, and a ready-made format is in the batch record template.

Some states require a code even on home-produced sauce. Texas, for example, requires a unique batch number on cottage food labels for acidified and fermented products [5]. Your state page gives the local rule.

Choosing a best-by date

Use the phrase FDA recommends

FDA "strongly supports" the use of "Best If Used By" for voluntary quality dates, because consumer research suggests shoppers understand that the phrase is about quality rather than safety [2]. USDA describes the phrase the same way: it tells when a product will be at its best flavor or quality and is not a purchase or safety date [3]. Avoid "Expires" or "Use by" on a shelf-stable sauce unless your process authority tells you otherwise; those phrases suggest a safety limit.

Base the date on what your sauce actually does

No authoritative shelf-life figure for hot sauce was found for this page, and none should be borrowed from another brand. Your date should come from your own product:

1. Keep retained samples. Hold at least three bottles from each of your first several batches at room temperature, out of the light, labeled with the code.
2. Check them on a schedule, for example at 1, 3, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months: open one and compare it with a fresh bottle for color, separation, aroma and flavor. Write down what you see.
3. Set the date before the change a customer would notice. If a green sauce has visibly browned by month 9, a 6 or 7 month date is honest. If a red vinegar sauce looks and tastes the same at 18 months, a longer date is reasonable.
4. Ask your process authority. Your scheduled process may say something about shelf life. Salsalady's advice in her 2017 business thread was to consult your process authority and inspector before putting a best-by or expiry date on bottles [4].

Color loss and browning, the most common reason a sauce looks old, is covered on the color page. How long sauce keeps once a customer opens it is on the how long it lasts page.

Think about how long bottles sit before they sell

A date that is printed at filling starts counting down in your storeroom. Salsalady's thread offers the example of a copacker run of 500 cases dated two years out: if the cases are not sold within 18 months, the date on the bottle "is not looking so good" to a store buyer [4]. A buyer offered a bottle with six months left may pass [4]. So set your production quantity by how fast you sell, and do not stretch a date to cover slow inventory. If you hold stock for a long time, print the date on the label at shipping time instead of on the line, if your labeler allows it.

When the date is a safety statement

All of the above assumes a shelf-stable sauce made under a scheduled process. A refrigerated sauce is different: "Keep refrigerated" is a safety instruction, and the date may be one too. If your sauce depends on refrigeration, the rules and the label statements it needs are on the refrigerated sauce page.

Using the code when something goes wrong

The day a customer calls about a swollen bottle, the lot code is what lets you pull one batch instead of everything you have ever made. The steps for a withdrawal or recall, starting from the code on the complaint bottle, are on the recall page.

References

1. eCFR, 21 CFR Part 114, Acidified Foods, sections 114.80(b) and 114.100(d) and (e), up to date as of October 20, 2026. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-21/chapter-I/subchapter-B/part-114
2. Ned Sharpless and Frank Yiannas, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Working with the Food Industry to Reduce Confusion Over Date Labels, FDA Voices, not dated (viewed October 2026). https://www.fda.gov/news-events/fda-voices-perspectives-fda-leadership-and-experts/working-food-industry-reduce-confusion-over-date-labels/
3. The Ohio State University College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, Chow Line: FDA supports standard language to help avoid food label confusion, not dated (viewed October 2026). https://cfaes.osu.edu/news/articles/chow-line-fda-supports-standard-language-help-avoid-food-label-confusion
4. salsalady, Starting a Food Business 101, The Hot Pepper forum, September 28, 2017. https://thehotpepper.com/threads/starting-a-food-business-101.66094/
5. Texas Department of State Health Services, Texas Cottage Food Production, not dated (2025 rules, viewed October 2026). https://www.dshs.texas.gov/retail-food-establishments/permits-retail-food-establishments/texas-cottage-food-production