Blog
InventorySeptember 12, 2026· 4 min
FEFO vs FIFO: why your warehouse should ship by expiry date
If you sell food, pharma or cosmetics, shipping what arrived first isn't enough. Here's FEFO and how to apply it without driving your team crazy.
We all learned FIFO: first in, first out. It works until a supplier delivers a lot with a shorter shelf life than the one already on your shelf.
FEFO: first expired, first out
FEFO orders outbound stock by expiry date rather than receiving date. The result is less shrinkage, fewer expired products on the shelf and fewer complaints.
What you need to do it right
- Lots per product, with the expiry date captured on receipt.
- Bin locations, so you know which aisle and shelf each lot is on.
- A system that won’t sell what doesn’t exist. If tracked stock goes negative, traceability breaks.
How MKA handles it
In MKA you turn on lots and locations at three levels: company, product or warehouse, so you can start with perishables only. When shipping, the system proposes lots in FEFO order, skips expired ones and writes every movement to the kardex.
Move the slider in the inventory demo and see which lot ships.