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Regulations which will introduce a stricter date marking system for foods from 1st January 1991 have recently been proposed by MAFF. These will improve consumer protection. ‘Use by’ dates will be introduced to provide a clear final date for the use of microbiologically highly perishable foods while ‘best before’ dates will remain the principle system for the majority of foods. The ‘sell by’ date will no longer be permitted. Two new offences will be introduced relating to the sale of food after its ‘use by’ date and to the re‐dating of food by anyone other than the person originally responsible for the labelling.