Sometimes it feels like the world is full of secrets everyone knows about but me. For instance, I had no idea the gap above your iron’s plate could be used for shirt collars.
I didn’t know the sneaky way to keep those new bottle lids out of your face while you’re drinking until recently, either.
Yesterday, my understanding of these cryptic codes and secret functions grew a little larger again. A TikTok from app user Moneymum revealed a “hack for buying fresher food.”
Which is?
Pointing to a letter followed by two numbers on a white square, the app user wrote, “The F is the month!”
The letters correspond to their number in the alphabet, which is the same as the month the date was meant to represent, she says.
So the sixth month (July) will be shown as the sixth letter (F), according to the TikToker.
“January would be A” on the other hand, she added. The numbers after that are the day they’re packed, so she argued A1 would be the first of January.
I thought that sounded unlikely, but it turns out some supermarkets do use something called a Julian date system to mark out the freshness of their produce.
These change from store to store as the “base code” can be altered however you like ― you can use letters instead of numbers and vice versa, and you can start midway through the alphabet or from the number 3,49585 if you want to.
However, often, “a Julian date of 031 represents January 31st and a Julian date of 365 represents December 31st,” Oregon’s Department of Agriculture writes.
“The Julian date usually represents the date the product was manufactured or packaged.”
We can’t say for sure that the TikToker’s specific system applies to that produce in that store on that day, but yes, some stores do have a code that indicates when fruits and veg were packed.
How can I tell if the food is off?
Aside from checking the container rigorously to note the quality of the fruit or veg (and, if you feel like it, seeing if you can work out the Julian date system a supermarket might be working with), expiry dates are still your best option.
After a customer got confused by a Julian expiry date on a ready meal, Tesco explained that “The Julian date code is used by our supplier for internal traceability purposes.”
“The standard best-before date is printed on the outside of the main packaging,” they added.
Commenting on the same misunderstanding, the Food Safety Authority said, “The outer pack should have a use-by date or best-before date, this would be the date consumers would be expected to follow for the product as a whole.”
Still, I know I’ll be giving produce packs a far closer look from now on...