What does “Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum” mean in German?

Mindesthaltbarkeitsdatum looks intimidating but breaks apart cleanly: mindest (minimum) + Haltbarkeit (durability, from halten, “to hold/keep”) + Datum (date). It’s the date stamped on packaged food guaranteeing it’s at least good until then — not necessarily bad the day after, just no longer guaranteed. Germans often just call it the MHD for short.

This is the compounding habit that makes German vocabulary look intimidating but actually gets easier once you notice the pattern: instead of a separate phrase, German glues the pieces into one word. The same root, halten (“to hold/keep”), gives you haltbar (durable, keeps well) and unhaltbar (untenable) — recognize the root once and a whole family of words opens up.