Recently1 I have found some products that has "for immediate consumption after opening" notice instead of the usual "store in cold place and consume within 48-72 hours after opening" (the usual "keep in a cold place" / "store in fridge" usually follows in both cases).
How should I understand this term?
Am I really supposed to eat entire package right / the same day after opening and am I really not allowed to store it for 2-3 days in fridge after opening?
Or maybe explanation is completely different? Maybe "for immediate consumption" means that I can eat it right away without any extra preparation needs (like warming up or cooking etc.) and maybe this term has nothing to do with storing after opening requirements?
Examples of products on which I have recently found such note includes: Humus and French Pâté.
1I have intentionally made an emphasis on "recently" because I haven't seen such products ever before. However, I don't know, if I was just so lucky to not find them or if this has some correlation to food without any preservatives, that is currently flooding Poland? Can "immediate consumption" be enforced by the fact that food has no preservatives and thus must be immediately consumed once opened and once air is added to it?
Best Answer
It's not generally about food safety or even quality. That phrase refers to the type of license the seller of the food item has. So the phrase has a legal meaning, which may have nothing to do with the food.
In some jurisdictions, grocery stores have different regulations and zoning than restaurants. So, one way to differentiate between grocery stores and restaurants is that food sold in restaurants is for immediate consumption. Some packaged food may only be sold to restaurants, or the labeling is different for packages destined for restaurants. Some information may be required on labels destined for grocery stores, which isn't required on labels for restaurant packages. Restaurant packages may be labeled "for immediate consumption".
Such rules are often frequently ignored, and regulations can change faster than labels.
In the US, a more common way to see it on packages is "for foodservice use only".