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Shelf-life rules
Where use-by dates come from, and the order Servora looks for one in.
2 min read · Last reviewed 22 Aug 2026
A shelf-life rule says: this item, in this storage state, lasts this long. Set them once and every label prints the right date without anybody deciding.
Storage state is part of the rule
The same item lasts different lengths of time depending on how it is kept, so a rule is always for a state — chilled, frozen, ambient or thawed. A three-day chilled life says nothing about frozen, and Servora will not guess: if you have not set a frozen rule, it asks rather than inventing one.
Setting them at the right level
Rules can be set on a category or on an individual item. Do the category first — "all prepared sauces last 5 days chilled" covers forty items in one row — and then override the handful that differ.
The order Servora looks
- A rule on the item itself.
- For a prep item, the rule on the recipe behind it.
- A rule on the item's category.
- A shelf life recorded on the recipe from before rules existed — used only when the state being asked about matches the item's own storage instruction.
- Nothing found: staff enter the date by hand and the label is flagged as manually dated.
The screen shows which level a life came from, so you can see whether an item is inherited or set directly.
Getting the numbers right
Shelf lives are a food-safety matter, not a system setting. Take them from your HACCP plan or your food-safety consultant, not from what the last kitchen did. Servora will print whatever you configure, correctly and consistently — including a wrong number.
Still stuck?
Every screen in Servora has the same shape — a filter strip, a table, and the actions on the right. If a guide is missing or out of date, tell your account manager and it gets fixed in the manual, not just in an email.