How to Figure Out Frozen Food Date Codes

Frozen foods have a long shelf life.

While frozen foods are typically safe to eat for years, prolonged storage may negatively affect the quality of the product. Frozen foods can accidentally migrate to the back of the freezer where they are easily forgotten. When your bag or box of frozen food resurfaces, deciphering the date code will help you determine the age of the food and whether it is fit to eat. Because date coding is not regulated, companies use a multitude of coding methods. When a use-by or sell-by date is not clearly stamped on the packaging, you can do some decoding work to determine the age of the product.

Instructions

1. Check to see if the frozen food product has an open dating code stamped on the package. Examples of this type of dating are "use-by dates," "sell-by dates" and "best if used before dates." If the product has an open dated code, use it and don't bother to decipher any other stamped codes.

2. Determine if a simple date code indicates the date when the food was produced. These date codes can be displayed as month-day-year-time or only month-day-year. Typically two digits will indicate the month, day and year and four digits will give military time.

3. If your product does not have a simple code or an open code, determine the predominant method of coding. If letters and numbers appear in combination, the letters typically represent the month and the numbers represent the year. If the code contains only numbers, it is likely based on some variant of the Julian calendar, in which the days of the year are numbered 1 through 365.

4. Interpret the month, if letters appear. The letters represent the months in order with A representing January, B for February, C for March through L for December. However, some companies will use a combined letter/number code where the numbers 1 through 9 represent January through September and the letters O, N and D represent October, November and December.

5. Determine the year of production. Often when letters or letter/number codes represent for months, any combination of one, two or four digits represents the year. For example, the year 2011 could appear as "1" "11" or "2011."

6. Determine if a Julian calendar dating code is used. In this case, you must be careful when deciphering your product's code. The code may display the month, day, year and even the time, and these may display in any order. The numbers will usually be separated by a space to help you determine if the group refers to a day, date or time. The most common Julian dating method displays as: year -- Julian day -- time.

7. Read the first group of one or two numbers in the date code. This number group will typically indicate the year the item was produced. For example, if the number "8" is listed, then the item was made in the year 2008. However, the item could have possibly been produced in 1998. If an item was produced in 2011, the number will likely read "11" but could also read only "1."

8. Read the next three numbers in the code, or find a group of three numbers. This will indicate which day in the Julian calendar year the food was made. For example, if the numbers read "036," then the item was made on February 5th.

9. Read the next four numbers in the code. This will indicate the exact time of day that the item was produced. Food companies use military time. For example, if the numbers read "1321," then the item was made at 1:21 p.m. The time may not always be marked.

Tips & Warnings

• If you are still not sure if the frozen food is safe to eat after reading the production code, contact the company that made the item and ask a customer service representative. A customer service number is usually listed on the food's packaging. Additionally, the manufacturer's website may offer insight into the product coding used.

References

• E.D. Smith: About Us
• Food Reflections: Decoding Food Product Dates
• USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service: Food Product Dating
• WholeFruit: FAQ
• SaraLee: Product Information