Storage instructions are the mandatory or recommended conditions under which a food must be kept to remain safe and retain its declared properties, required on the label whenever the durability of the product depends on specific temperature, humidity or other environmental controls.
In trade practice
For frozen products, storage instructions must align with the cold-chain temperature maintained throughout distribution; a product assigned a shelf life at minus 18 degrees Celsius cannot carry instructions for a higher temperature without a separate shelf-life justification. Suppliers must ensure that the storage conditions stated on the label are consistent with the conditions used in shelf-life studies and with the logistics reality of the supply chain. Buyers and third-party logistics providers use the stated conditions to set warehouse parameters and to assess cold-chain compliance on receipt. A frequent non-conformity is a mismatch between the storage instruction on the label and the temperature recorded on the accompanying transport document.
In a specification
Specifications should state the required storage temperature range, any secondary conditions such as humidity or light exclusion, and require that these conditions match those validated in the shelf-life study.