use - by date

[Patf]

How do you say use-by date

 in french?

And if something has a date on it:

003

1.13.023

what does this mean?

[YCCMB]

There's often just "DLC" (date limite de consommation) or "DLUO" (date limite d'utilisation optimale), the first one preceded, often, by "A consommer jusqu'au.....and a date.

From the date you've quoted, it looks like it's something with a DLUO of 13th January 2023, possibly.

Many manufacturers also include a packaging date which will tell you when it was originally made or packed, and some also include details allowing them to identify more specific details, such as the machine it was manufactured on, the shift, time and even sometimes the operator. As these are manufacturer-specific, it's impossible to identify them or say that that's what they are.

[Patf]

Thanks - it's a gardening product, ( fertiliser,) which doesn't look right. Thinking of taking it back, but maybe not now.

[Frecossais]

I find that I'm not sure whether the use by date takes account of when the product was opened. I sniff everything before use, though really I don't believe that would always tell me whether something was safe to eat.