Minimum Days of Shelf Life from Production

[kxsRSC]

I would like verification of the meaning behind minimum days of shelf life from production.  I have been told by a recipient this should be the total shelf life of a product from production. However, I take it to mean what is the minimum days left on product when shipped.   Which is correct?

[Julie]

Hello @kxsRSC, thanks for reaching out!

Please find below the definition of the attribute "Minimum Days of Shelf Life from Production", taken from our Participant Dictionary (https://community.1worldsync.com/t5/IM-Participant-Dictionary/Current-IM-Participant-Dictionary-IMPD...

The seller's determination of the minimum number of calendar days from the production date to the expiration date. Minimum Days of Shelf Life from Production may differ by recipient. If the same for all recipients, select "ALL" as the Recipient.

Used by the buyer for quality and inventory control workflows/business processes.

Please let me know if that helped. Thank you!

[kxsRSC]

I think the main sticking point from my point of few is the ask was this to populated with the total or maximum shelf life of the product from production to expiration (i.e. 360 days) in this field when our threshold or required number of days left on product to expiration date to be able to ship is less than that. So, from the definition provided, I will assume "minimum shelf life from production to expiration date" is based on (seller's determination) of our threshold of required number of days - minimum - left on product in order to ship. Can you tell me if there is a maximum or total shelf life attribute to define for this recipient within the IM dictionary?  The only other one I found is "Minimum Days of Shelf Life at Arrival".  These two attributes, to me anyway, seem to almost mean the same thing.

[Food_Fiend]

@kxsRSC , this is how I've been filling the following fields without issue.

Minimum Days of Shelf Life from Production: This is our total guaranteed shelf life.

Minimum Days of Shelf Line at Arrival: This is the minimum guaranteed remaining days of shelf life when it hits the customer's dock.

Have a good day!

[kxsRSC]

Thank you for the input, Food_Fiend.  So, to be clear, you are saying I should put in 360 in this field for them even though we can't / don't guarantee that many days will be on the product when we ship it.

[kxsRSC]

The recipient doesn't require us to give them minimum days of shelf life at arrival either.

[Food_Fiend]

Yes, if 360 is the most you will guarantee before expiration then that is "... from production".  We provide our standard minimum remaining for "... at arrival" so there is no confusion of a customer expecting the entire shelf life to be remaining when they receive it.  We do have various customers with different agreements (higher/lower) from the standard remaining but only publish the standard to GS1.

[lvanhouten]

I found this definition on the Foodservice GDSN Attribute Guide:

Foodservice Common Definition- Indicates the number of days for the shelf life of the product
from the time of production.

GDD Definition- The period of days, guaranteed by the Manufacturer, before the expiration date
of the product, based on the production.

The number of days from production until the expiration date. This number signifies the minimum number of days a recipient can expect to have on a Trade Item they receive. This date is based upon the production date. The recipient will need to be provided the production date through a transactional piece of information (e.g., Bill of Lading (BOL), Advance Ship Notification (ASN), Commercial Invoice, etc.), or physically printing on the packaging. Where this date appears is at the Manufacturer’s discretion. It is understood that not every route along which an item may be shipped will have the same transit time. To account for this, this number is a minimum, not an exact number or a maximum.

[kxsRSC]

Thanks for all the input, Ivanhouten. I will reach out to the recipient for further discussion in this matter so there is no misunderstanding as to what they are receiving via item data and actual product & see if we can add the 2nd attribute of minimum shelf life at arrival.

[Food_Fiend]

To be honest, I think we are all on the same page.  The issue is the cryptic definitions created by the people who set the standards. Below are the definitions from the latest food service recommendations document I can find.  "from production" is clearly what is total GSL but requires the customer to do the math to figure out what is actually left.  "from arrival" is what the customer should expect as the minimum left to be available after receipt.