What is minimum remaining shelf life?
Remaining shelf life is the time left from delivery to the product’s expiry or use-by date. A minimum remaining shelf life (MRSL) is what a buyer demands at delivery, as a share of the total shelf life or as days:
remaining shelf life % = days left at delivery ÷ total shelf life in days
Many retailers ask for 75%. The Grocer reported Tesco’s rule in 2003: “For a 12-day product, Tesco wants nine days.” CVS in the US asks for 75% of shelf life on national brands and 50% on its own brands, measured at its distribution centre. In medicines, the WHO gives example minimums by stage: a product with 24 to 36 months of total life should leave the maker with 20 months, reach the port of entry with 15 and the end user with 6.
The latest date a lot can ship follows from it: expiry date − minimum days at delivery − transit days. A frozen product with 360 days of life, a buyer asking for 2/3 (240 days) and 10 days in transit must leave the store within 110 days of production. Stock older than that is still good, but no longer sellable to that buyer.
That is why FEFO is not the whole rule: picking the earliest-expiring pallet can still ship one the customer will refuse. The EU’s medicines distribution guidelines ask for “an appropriate remaining shelf life when it is picked” (2013/C 343/01, §5.7).
Sources
- WHO, Points to consider for setting the remaining shelf-life of medical products, TRS 1044 (2022), Annex 8: definition (§3) and Appendix 1, Table 1.
- CVS Health, Shelf Life Compliance Program Policy Instructions, v3 (July 2025).
- The Grocer, Tesco in shelf-life demand (2 August 2003).
- European Commission, Guidelines on Good Distribution Practice of medicinal products for human use (2013/C 343/01), §5.7.