diff --git a/hack/make/build-deb b/hack/make/build-deb
index 223b4938a6..90f96bd54e 100644
--- a/hack/make/build-deb
+++ b/hack/make/build-deb
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-# subshell so that we can export PATH without breaking other things
+# subshell so that we can export PATH and TZ without breaking other things
 (
+	export TZ=UTC # make sure our "date" variables are UTC-based
+
 	source "${MAKEDIR}/.integration-daemon-start"
 
 	# TODO consider using frozen images for the dockercore/builder-deb tags
diff --git a/hack/make/build-rpm b/hack/make/build-rpm
index 3a7bfd4134..8de967317c 100644
--- a/hack/make/build-rpm
+++ b/hack/make/build-rpm
@@ -1,8 +1,10 @@
 #!/bin/bash
 set -e
 
-# subshell so that we can export PATH without breaking other things
+# subshell so that we can export PATH and TZ without breaking other things
 (
+	export TZ=UTC # make sure our "date" variables are UTC-based
+
 	source "$(dirname "$BASH_SOURCE")/.integration-daemon-start"
 
 	# TODO consider using frozen images for the dockercore/builder-rpm tags