The greatest hits collection of prep labelling mistakes 🏷️

EHO Story 📩

Today, I want to talk about prep labelling.

This is not one single horror story, but a greatest hits collection of prep labelling mistakes I have seen over years of inspections and audits across all kinds of food businesses. You will almost certainly recognise a few.

The label written during an earthquake

You know the one. Scratched on in a rush, barely legible. When an EHO asks, “What does this say?” and the chef has to open the container to work it out, the label has already failed. If it needs decoding, it is not helping anyone.

The label that lies

This is where the label says one thing, but the contents inside clearly say something else. At that point, the label becomes actively dangerous, because the team stops trusting what they are reading.

The container with a full life story

Completely covered in old labels, like a scrapbook of everything that has ever lived in that tub. This is usually down to old labels not being removed properly, often at pot wash stage, but it creates confusion straight away.

The “I will finish this later” label

Half filled in. A use by date but no prep date. A product name with no date at all. It looks like someone started strong and then got distracted halfway through. From an EHO point of view, partial information is not helpful. Consistency is what matters.

The defrosted but “still living in the past” label

Food has been frozen correctly and then defrosted, but the label still shows the old use by date from before it was frozen. It suddenly looks wildly out of date, even though it is probably not. That is when confusion creeps in, food gets wasted, or risky decisions are made when things are busy.

The “how is this still here?” label

Food genuinely past its use by date. This is a real food safety risk but is avoidable if opening and closing checks are done properly. It is also one of the last things you want an EHO to find, as it quickly leads to some very uncomfortable questions.

Food Safety Tip ✅

If labelling is an area you want to tighten up, these are the basics worth reminding your team:

• Labels must be clear and readable
• Old labels should always be removed from containers
• Every label should be fully completed with the required information
• Defrosted foods must be labelled correctly
• Thorough checks should be done to ensure foods past their Use by dates are removed.

The Serious Lesson

Effective labelling is one of those things that only works if everyone can rely on it, every day. If labels are unclear, inconsistent, or out of date, teams stop trusting them and start guessing. And guessing has no place in food safety.