How to decode some less common food Expiration Date/Date Manufactured codes (US)?
I was cleaning out and found some snack chips with date codes that are not in an obvious Day/Month/Year format. For example:
- 028 B2 A1 (Bloom's Potato Chips)
- 021 T B4A1 (Lieber's Tortilla Chips).
Further complicating, neither says if it's a Best Used By date or a Date Manufactured (see pic).
How to decode these?
Best Answer
Manufacturers usually will decode the date if you call them, which I did. I am sharing the codes I have gathered for easier reference. Other users may wish to click Edit and add other manufacturers' codes.
BRAND / CODE / TYPE(BEST-OR-MFG) / DECODE / NOTES
- Lieber's: 021 T B4A1: BEST: The 021 is 21st day of the year i.e. Jan-21. "T" (20th letter) is for 2019, as "A" is Year 2000.
- Blooms: 028 B2 A1: MFG: The 028 is 28th day of the year i.e. Jan-28. The year is not in the code.
Here is a list of some more common codes, from Bush Brothers to Stagg Chili:
http://www.foodreference.com/html/tcannedfoodshelflife.html#datecodes
Accessed July 2019
Here is another, very long list from 3 Springs Water through Zatarains:
http://www.eby-brown.com/sites/default/files/u3/EbyCodeDateCatalog_0.pdf
Accessed July 2019
Pictures about "How to decode some less common food Expiration Date/Date Manufactured codes (US)?"
How do you read coded expiration dates?
Read these codes as MMDDYY, where "MM" refers to the month, "DD" refers to the date, and "YY" refers to the year. This is one of the more common codes that you'll see on food items. For example, "121518" would be read as December 15, 2018.How do you read manufacturer date codes?
The 1st three numbers of your serial number will always provide your manufacture date. The 1st number is the YEAR of manufacture; the 2nd & 3rd numbers indicate the MONTH of manufacture.How do you read a code on canned goods?
Look at the first number or letter of the code. Numbers 1 through 9 often represent the months January through September, in order. The letter "O" usually stands for October, "N" represents November and "D" stands for December on many cans.How do you read a 3 digit expiration date?
Look for a 3-digit numeric code on perishable foods.The three digits represent the day of the year that the food was manufactured. For example, 001 would be January 1st while 365 would be December 31st. Perishable foods like eggs and milk have a 3-digit code because the food will go bad in under a year.Explaining Food Expiration Dates
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Images: furkanfdemir, Nadin Sh, Naim Benjelloun, Dziana Hasanbekava