Sometimes, it can be a real mystery trying to figure out whether or not the frozen food you just bought is fresh.  Why is it that some manufacturers print expiration dates in code, instead of in plain English???

Ever wonder what that code is?  How do you read it?  What in the world does 09164 mean?  I recently bought a frozen product from a local grocery store with exactly that notation on it... 09164.  Given that I've had food poisoning more times than I care to count, I was very leery about what I was buying.  I went ahead and bought it, but immediately checked into the product dating process when I got home.  What I found was that the product was sporting a variation of Julian dating.  I've seen several variations of Julian dating.  This particular one, 09164, seemed to indicate the following:

09=2009

164=the 164th day of the year, or June 13th

I ate the product recently, and nothing happened.  Hopefully, I read the date right.  However, it really makes me wonder what the industry is up to if they feel the need to use coding instead of "plain-English" dating.  How do we, the consumer, know that what we're getting is fresh?  How do we know whether or not it's safe?  I had to look at my Franklin Day Planner to figure out what day of the year Day #164 was.  I don't know about you, but that's not something I can just generate off the top of my head.  

I guess the moral of the story is to keep a very careful eye out for these coded dates on products.  It's no fun getting sick from something long-expired, especially if it was labeled in such a way that it was unclear that the product had expired.  I had this happen to me a couple years ago. 

Here are some additional resources that discuss food product dating.   The USDA has a page on their website that goes into considerable depth on the subject.  Click here to learn more from the USDA.  Another online resource can be found by clicking here.  Lastly, our Health Neighborhood has numerous books on this subject.  One example is this book, How to Prevent Food Poisoning, by Scott and Sockett.  

Be safe out there...

(Image from www.fpfc.org.)