Reading Candy Bar Freshness Codes
I'm a candy collector collecting old candy wrappers to build my vintage candy wrapper collection for all to view.
Freshness Code, Date Codes, Stamp Code, Expire Date or Manufactures Code
A lot of the smaller companies just stamp a Best Before date on the package.
NECCO – Made Date
307191 – 3 is Mass. company, 071 is the 71st day of the year, 9 is the year 2009 and 1 is the shift they were made on which is the 1st .
Hershey – Expire Date
First number is year (0-9) second letter is month (A-L, which is Jan-Dec). However, some codes are like JAN2010, which needs no explanation.
Mars – Made Date
First digit is year next two digits are the week of the year it was made
Nestle – Made Date
They use Julian code so the first four digits are (1 digit year followed by 3 digit day of the year)
I’m in charge of rotating the candy for a retail store and to save time I made an android app the converts these secret dates. You type in the 2 3 or 4 digit code and it spits out a readable date.
3160 = June/09/2013 312 = Mar/20/2013 3L = December of 2013
The app is free on the Google play store just search Eastwestmain or Code Date Converter
Thanks
Jeremy
Comment by Jeremy — June 19, 2013 @ 11:06 am
Thanks
Comment by Richard Saunders — June 19, 2013 @ 11:25 am
What is the product shelf life from the manufactured date?
Comment by wayne Lintz — July 5, 2014 @ 9:34 am
Wow. Do you know how to convert a bundle of digits on the Tootsie Rolls bag? It reads: F 27 4 1 3 3 05:59. I take it the last 4 digits represent the time of the production. F could be the month (April), and 27 could be the day? What about the rest of them? 4133…hmmm.
Comment by Yumm — October 14, 2014 @ 10:36 pm
This is what I’m thinking. The F 27 (might) represent the date that is April 27.
Now on to 4133. 4 could refer to a certain facility where the candy was made; 13 = year 2013; the last digit 3 = 3rd shift as is further supported by the time 05:59 that is a minute short of 6 am.
I wonder if I got it right.
Comment by Yumm — October 14, 2014 @ 10:42 pm
On the hersheys candy bar …..expire date I only can see 2016 and can’t see the letters ???
Comment by sandra charles-park — April 6, 2016 @ 6:48 pm
From what i read on another sure, Tootsie Rolls are coded as such:
Ignore the last 3 digits
The letter standard for the month, where A=January, B=February, etc
The next number represents the day, and then the next number is the end of the year.
F274133 means the candy was made on
F = June
27
2014 (or 2004!)
Comment by Cymond — April 4, 2018 @ 2:44 pm
Can someone tell me about those. Hard candy code..
D12651..
D1265..
E01431..
I just biughy yesterday its 2018
Comment by Ghita — April 27, 2018 @ 5:30 am
On my bag of Tootsie Rolls, the number reads: D24 8123 18:00. I take it D being the 4th letter of the alphabet, stands for the 4th month of the year which is April (and today is August). 24 might as well be the 24th of April. 8123 is a mystery but number 3 could mean production on the 3rd shift providing it starts at 6 pm or 18:00. The rest is gray area
The shelf life of these is 18 months at least, possibly 2 years
Comment by On my bag of Tootsie Rolls, the number reads: D24 8123 18:00 — August 28, 2018 @ 4:43 pm
Can’t interpret Butterfinger Fun size info:91365747E2BOC. Can anyone help?
Comment by Martha F. Johnson — June 21, 2020 @ 12:10 pm