diff --git a/internal/database/metadata_cache_test.go b/internal/database/metadata_cache_test.go
index 46a38a71..26e0a639 100644
--- a/internal/database/metadata_cache_test.go
+++ b/internal/database/metadata_cache_test.go
@@ -362,3 +362,42 @@ func TestMetadataCacheRoundTripsContentEncoding(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("content encoding round-trip failed: %#v", got)
 	}
 }
+
+// On Postgres, fetched_at is a TIMESTAMP column without a zone. East of UTC
+// it must still read back as the moment it was written, or metadata_ttl
+// expires hours late. last_modified is an HTTP date in UTC and must keep it.
+func TestMetadataCacheTimesOffUTC(t *testing.T) {
+	tokyo, err := time.LoadLocation("Asia/Tokyo")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Skipf("time zone data unavailable: %v", err)
+	}
+	prev := time.Local
+	time.Local = tokyo
+	t.Cleanup(func() { time.Local = prev })
+
+	runWithBothDatabases(t, func(t *testing.T, db *DB) {
+		fetched := time.Now().Add(-90 * time.Minute)
+		modified := time.Date(2026, 10, 1, 12, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+		entry := &MetadataCacheEntry{
+			Ecosystem:    testEcosystemNPM,
+			Name:         "tz",
+			StoragePath:  "_metadata/npm/tz/metadata",
+			LastModified: sql.NullTime{Time: modified, Valid: true},
+			FetchedAt:    sql.NullTime{Time: fetched, Valid: true},
+		}
+		if err := db.UpsertMetadataCache(entry); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("UpsertMetadataCache() error = %v", err)
+		}
+
+		got, err := db.GetMetadataCache(testEcosystemNPM, "tz")
+		if err != nil || got == nil {
+			t.Fatalf("GetMetadataCache() = %v, %v", got, err)
+		}
+		if diff := got.FetchedAt.Time.Sub(fetched).Abs(); diff > time.Second {
+			t.Errorf("fetched_at read back as %v, want %v", got.FetchedAt.Time, fetched)
+		}
+		if !got.LastModified.Time.Equal(modified) {
+			t.Errorf("last_modified read back as %v, want %v", got.LastModified.Time, modified)
+		}
+	})
+}
diff --git a/internal/database/queries.go b/internal/database/queries.go
index 95030224..5897d959 100644
--- a/internal/database/queries.go
+++ b/internal/database/queries.go
@@ -1122,6 +1122,13 @@ func (db *DB) GetMetadataCache(ecosystem, name string) (*MetadataCacheEntry, err
 
 func (db *DB) UpsertMetadataCache(entry *MetadataCacheEntry) error {
 	now := time.Now()
+	// fetched_at is a TIMESTAMP without zone on Postgres, and lib/pq reads it
+	// back labelled UTC, so it has to be stored in UTC. last_modified already
+	// is, since it comes from an HTTP date.
+	fetchedAt := entry.FetchedAt
+	if fetchedAt.Valid {
+		fetchedAt.Time = fetchedAt.Time.UTC()
+	}
 	var query string
 
 	if db.dialect == DialectPostgres {
@@ -1162,7 +1169,7 @@ func (db *DB) UpsertMetadataCache(entry *MetadataCacheEntry) error {
 
 	_, err := db.Exec(query,
 		entry.Ecosystem, entry.Name, entry.StoragePath, entry.ETag, entry.Link,
-		entry.ContentType, entry.ContentEncoding, entry.ContentDigest, entry.Size, entry.LastModified, entry.FetchedAt, now, now,
+		entry.ContentType, entry.ContentEncoding, entry.ContentDigest, entry.Size, entry.LastModified, fetchedAt, now, now,
 	)
 	if err != nil {
 		return fmt.Errorf("upserting metadata cache: %w", err)