diff --git a/spring-batch-excel/README.adoc b/spring-batch-excel/README.adoc
index 428ca27..8f366ed 100644
--- a/spring-batch-excel/README.adoc
+++ b/spring-batch-excel/README.adoc
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ public RowMapper rowMapper() {
 | `rowSetFactory` | no | `DefaultRowSetFactory` | For reading rows a `RowSet` abstraction is used. To construct a `RowSet` for the current `Sheet` a `RowSetFactory` is needed. The `DefaultRowSetFactory` constructs a `DefaultRowSet` and `DefaultRowSetMetaData`. For construction of the latter a `ColumnNameExtractor` is needed. At the moment there are 2 implementations
 | `skippedRowsCallback` | no | `null` | When rows are skipped an optional `RowCallbackHandler` is called with the skipped row. This comes in handy when one needs to write the skipped rows to another file or create some logging.
 | `strict` | no | `true` | This controls wether or not an exception is thrown if the file doesn't exists or isn't readable, by default an exception will be thrown.
+| `datesAsIso` | no | `false` | Controls if dates need to be parsed as ISO or to use the format as specified in the excel sheet. *NOTE:* Only for the `PoiItemReader` **not** the `StreamingXlsxReader`!
 |===
 
  - `StaticColumnNameExtractor` uses a preset list of column names.
diff --git a/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiItemReader.java b/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiItemReader.java
index 541c710..cf1c200 100644
--- a/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiItemReader.java
+++ b/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiItemReader.java
@@ -44,9 +44,11 @@ public class PoiItemReader<T> extends AbstractExcelItemReader<T> {
 
 	private InputStream inputStream;
 
+	private boolean datesAsIso = false;
+
 	@Override
 	protected Sheet getSheet(final int sheet) {
-		return new PoiSheet(this.workbook.getSheetAt(sheet));
+		return new PoiSheet(this.workbook.getSheetAt(sheet), this.datesAsIso);
 	}
 
 	@Override
@@ -89,4 +91,13 @@ public class PoiItemReader<T> extends AbstractExcelItemReader<T> {
 		}
 		this.workbook.setMissingCellPolicy(Row.MissingCellPolicy.CREATE_NULL_AS_BLANK);
 	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Instead of using the format defined in the Excel sheet, read the date/time fields as an ISO formatted
+	 * string instead. This is by default {@code false} to leave the original behavior.
+	 * @param datesAsIso default {@code false}
+	 */
+	public void setDatesAsIso(boolean datesAsIso) {
+		this.datesAsIso = datesAsIso;
+	}
 }
diff --git a/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiSheet.java b/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiSheet.java
index d39eb7e..02e0cb1 100644
--- a/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiSheet.java
+++ b/spring-batch-excel/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/extensions/excel/poi/PoiSheet.java
@@ -16,13 +16,17 @@
 
 package org.springframework.batch.extensions.excel.poi;
 
+import java.time.LocalDateTime;
+import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.LinkedList;
 import java.util.List;
 
+import org.apache.poi.ss.formula.ConditionalFormattingEvaluator;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Cell;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.CellType;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.DataFormatter;
+import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.DateUtil;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.FormulaEvaluator;
 import org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Row;
 
@@ -37,9 +41,10 @@ import org.springframework.lang.Nullable;
  */
 class PoiSheet implements Sheet {
 
-	private final DataFormatter dataFormatter = new DataFormatter();
+	private final DataFormatter dataFormatter;
 
 	private final org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Sheet delegate;
+	private final boolean datesAsIso;
 
 	private final int numberOfRows;
 
@@ -50,12 +55,15 @@ class PoiSheet implements Sheet {
 	/**
 	 * Constructor which takes the delegate sheet.
 	 * @param delegate the apache POI sheet
+	 * @param datesAsIso should we format the dates as ISO or use the Excel formatting instead
 	 */
-	PoiSheet(final org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Sheet delegate) {
+	PoiSheet(final org.apache.poi.ss.usermodel.Sheet delegate, boolean datesAsIso) {
 		super();
 		this.delegate = delegate;
+		this.datesAsIso = datesAsIso;
 		this.numberOfRows = this.delegate.getLastRowNum() + 1;
 		this.name = this.delegate.getSheetName();
+		this.dataFormatter = this.datesAsIso ? new IsoFormattingDateDataFormatter() : new DataFormatter();
 	}
 
 	/**
@@ -134,4 +142,33 @@ class PoiSheet implements Sheet {
 		};
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Specialized subclass for additionally formatting the date into an ISO date/time.
+	 *
+	 * @author Marten Deinum
+	 * @see DateTimeFormatter#ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME
+	 */
+	private static class IsoFormattingDateDataFormatter extends DataFormatter {
+
+		@Override
+		public String formatCellValue(Cell cell, FormulaEvaluator evaluator, ConditionalFormattingEvaluator cfEvaluator) {
+			if (cell == null) {
+				return "";
+			}
+
+			CellType cellType = cell.getCellType();
+			if (cellType == CellType.FORMULA) {
+				if (evaluator == null) {
+					return cell.getCellFormula();
+				}
+				cellType = evaluator.evaluateFormulaCell(cell);
+			}
+
+			if (cellType == CellType.NUMERIC && DateUtil.isCellDateFormatted(cell, cfEvaluator)) {
+				LocalDateTime value = cell.getLocalDateTimeCellValue();
+				return (value != null) ? value.format(DateTimeFormatter.ISO_OFFSET_DATE_TIME) : "";
+			}
+			return super.formatCellValue(cell, evaluator, cfEvaluator);
+		}
+	}
 }