The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 12 letter word SELL-BY-DATE
I've seen this crossword clue in Independent
S
E
L
L
-
B
Y
-
D
A
T
E
Buddy explains!
The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.