diff --git a/notebooks/api/0.8/11-container-images-k8s.ipynb b/notebooks/api/0.8/11-container-images-k8s.ipynb
index 27340a8d9e5..59bf6b5da9e 100644
--- a/notebooks/api/0.8/11-container-images-k8s.ipynb
+++ b/notebooks/api/0.8/11-container-images-k8s.ipynb
@@ -246,12 +246,14 @@
    "metadata": {},
    "outputs": [],
    "source": [
+    "# syft absolute\n",
+    "from syft.util.util import get_latest_tag\n",
+    "\n",
     "registry = os.getenv(\"SYFT_BASE_IMAGE_REGISTRY\", \"docker.io\")\n",
     "repo = \"openmined/grid-backend\"\n",
     "\n",
     "if \"k3d\" in registry:\n",
-    "    res = requests.get(url=f\"http://{registry}/v2/{repo}/tags/list\")\n",
-    "    tag = res.json()[\"tags\"][0]\n",
+    "    tag = get_latest_tag(registry, repo)\n",
     "else:\n",
     "    tag = sy.__version__"
    ]
diff --git a/packages/syft/src/syft/util/util.py b/packages/syft/src/syft/util/util.py
index 0860eb9e5e4..d34db89f365 100644
--- a/packages/syft/src/syft/util/util.py
+++ b/packages/syft/src/syft/util/util.py
@@ -8,9 +8,11 @@
 from concurrent.futures import ThreadPoolExecutor
 from contextlib import contextmanager
 from copy import deepcopy
+from datetime import datetime
 import functools
 import hashlib
 from itertools import repeat
+import json
 import multiprocessing
 import multiprocessing as mp
 from multiprocessing import set_start_method
@@ -959,3 +961,33 @@ def sanitize_html(html: str) -> str:
         clean_content_tags=policy["remove"],
         attributes=attributes,
     )
+
+
+def parse_iso8601_date(date_string: str) -> datetime:
+    # Handle variable length of microseconds by trimming to 6 digits
+    if "." in date_string:
+        base_date, microseconds = date_string.split(".")
+        microseconds = microseconds.rstrip("Z")  # Remove trailing 'Z'
+        microseconds = microseconds[:6]  # Trim to 6 digits
+        date_string = f"{base_date}.{microseconds}Z"
+    return datetime.strptime(date_string, "%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S.%fZ")
+
+
+def get_latest_tag(registry: str, repo: str) -> str | None:
+    repo_url = f"http://{registry}/v2/{repo}"
+    res = requests.get(url=f"{repo_url}/tags/list")
+    tags = res.json().get("tags", [])
+
+    tag_times = []
+    for tag in tags:
+        manifest_response = requests.get(f"{repo_url}/manifests/{tag}")
+        manifest = manifest_response.json()
+        created_time = json.loads(manifest["history"][0]["v1Compatibility"])["created"]
+        created_datetime = parse_iso8601_date(created_time)
+        tag_times.append((tag, created_datetime))
+
+    # sort tags by datetime
+    tag_times.sort(key=lambda x: x[1], reverse=True)
+    if len(tag_times) > 0:
+        return tag_times[0][0]
+    return None
diff --git a/tests/integration/container_workload/pool_image_test.py b/tests/integration/container_workload/pool_image_test.py
index a3a53aa2385..bb84e5883aa 100644
--- a/tests/integration/container_workload/pool_image_test.py
+++ b/tests/integration/container_workload/pool_image_test.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 # third party
 import numpy as np
 import pytest
-import requests
 
 # syft absolute
 import syft as sy
@@ -19,13 +18,13 @@
 from syft.service.worker.worker_pool import SyftWorker
 from syft.service.worker.worker_pool import WorkerPool
 from syft.types.uid import UID
+from syft.util.util import get_latest_tag
 
 registry = os.getenv("SYFT_BASE_IMAGE_REGISTRY", "docker.io")
 repo = "openmined/grid-backend"
 
 if "k3d" in registry:
-    res = requests.get(url=f"http://{registry}/v2/{repo}/tags/list")
-    tag = res.json()["tags"][0]
+    tag = get_latest_tag(registry, repo)
 else:
     tag = sy.__version__