Sunday, October 1, 2006

What does that Nestle code mean?

Following up on decoding the Mars code, here’s the Nestle code, thanks to Reader Dave.

Nestle uses something called the Julian code. The first four digits of the code on the wrapper will give you the date the product was manufactured.

Julian code is rather difficult to read on the fly, but here goes: the first digit represents the last digit of the year. The next three numbers represent the day of the year.

My Baby Ruth bar says:
602557471 D/A

That means that it was made on the January 25, 2006. (That was an easy one.)

My Nestle Crunch bar says:
52941211 A5 7A

Hmm, anything that begins with a 5 sounds kind of bad in October. This one was made on October 21, 2005. Almost a year old.

My 100 Grand bar says:
5334574823 6L

Again with the 2005 ... but at least the second number “334” is pretty large. That’d be November 30, 2005.

A quick way to calculate the month is to divide the three digit number by 30. If you can’t do that in your head, try dividing by 10 (moving the decimal place once slot) and then by 3. For the last one it gives you the approximation of November ... which is probably all you really wanted to know anyway.

For the record, the true Julian day number is a lot more complex and tracks the number of days since 4713 ... kinda like stardates!

Related Candies

  1. What does that Hershey’s code mean?
  2. What does that Mars code mean?

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:07 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyExpiration CodesNestleNews

Comments
  1. Hershey’s is next, right? tongue laugh

    Comment by Sera on 10/01/06 at 5:02 pm #
  2. Cybele's avatar

    Yup! I just have to dig through my candy bars to find some good examples of the code to decode!

    Comment by Cybele on 10/02/06 at 4:59 am #
  3. Hi~

    Regarding Nestle candy, the most important thing to remember is the last 2 digits…... The 6L in your 100 Grand bar above means that this candy reaches it expiration date on the “L” month (December) inthe year 2006…. “6” being the coded number.

    This is 14 years of Nestle talking to you, and a bunch of customer complaints being handled because of out dated candy. I have stories which would make your hair curl and there is a reason I do not eat candy anymore.

    Good Blog.

    Comment by Scott Gardner on 10/25/06 at 2:24 am #
  4. Your the man! I am sitting here with a butterfinger, made in 7188 and I am thinking “will it kill me?” But I only have 1, and I want 1, so what to do. Thanks for the great info. My 1+ year old BF won’t be eaten any time soon…

    Comment by Doc on 4/10/08 at 2:30 pm #
  5. So how do I find fresh Peppermint Patties? I’m always happy around the holidays when there are special shaped ones (because I know they’ll be fresh). But what about in between? Is there some kind of candy release cycle from Hershey’s? Like January is the month of fresh candy and December is the month of stale, unworthy candy?

    Comment by Sugar Mama on 7/10/08 at 12:33 pm #
  6. I’m with Scott on the Nestle codes.  I do code checks in work all the time and “6L” are the important numbers to look for.  The “6” standing for the year and the letter (“L” in the case) corresponding to the month of the year, i.e A=Jan., B=Feb., C=March, etc.

    Comment by Patty McCoy on 8/09/08 at 6:14 am #
  7. My code is   RS9618

    Comment by Guy McAnally on 7/06/09 at 5:18 pm #
  8. rs1070

    Comment by belinda on 11/13/09 at 9:12 am #
  9. the code on my nips is 833959181na 9l
    and 705759564ba 8a

    Comment by debra reynolds on 2/09/10 at 7:31 am #
  10. Mi código es BS6757

    Comment by Manuel on 4/27/10 at 9:46 am #
  11. We bought some butterfinger 8 packs and think they are stale. You can’t even break them. I didn’t understand how to read the code on the package.  Can you tell me what this code means

    017357472E B 1D and 017357472E A 1D
    I would like to know how old these candy bars are

                          Thanks
                          Sue Warren

    Comment by Sue Warren on 10/11/10 at 5:29 pm #
  12. so i bought a nestle big turk bar and the code is 00764770 B 08:32

    so does this mean than my bar is from 200 February?

    Comment by Joel on 3/09/11 at 12:40 pm #
  13. Date code, people.  Not promotion code.  Promotion codes (which are worthless) are found inside the wrapper.  Production/date codes are found on the outside of the wrapper…..generally underneath the fold. 

    Promotion Code = inside wrapper = 2 letters/4 numbers = worthless (but feel free to call the 800 number and listen to the message)

    Production code = outside of wrapper = 12 - 15 numbers and one letter = provides product expiration date as outlined in previous posts

    Comment by HPM on 7/06/11 at 11:41 pm #
  14. LET ME TELL YOU…MY FAVORITE CHOCOLATE ALWAYS (WAS,ITS AND WILL BE) BABYRUTH….

    Comment by NELSON on 8/26/11 at 12:11 pm #
  15. you sold me a 199 grand…. used to be called 100,000 dollar bar…and it had a code inside..just trying to see if i won anything? 
    anyway the old wrapper looks nlike it’s worth more….. go back to it…. 10-15 years ago when u changed… I did not buy for years… thought it might be different….................
    marketing… get a clue….even people with teeth issues can omg enjoy this…...............

    Comment by katherine on 5/05/12 at 11:25 pm #
  16. Ok so my bar is from 200 February, thanks a lot for your help.

    Comment by David Johnson Jr. on 1/27/13 at 11:37 am #
  17. contest or date code?

    Comment by SHARON TILSON on 2/08/13 at 5:47 pm #
  18. nestle promo code RS8670

    Comment by MONTE M MOORE on 2/11/13 at 10:18 pm #
  19. my code is rs6386 what does this mean

    Comment by jeanette lammm on 2/16/13 at 7:08 am #
  20. promation code cs2960 what does this mean

    Comment by peggy on 6/09/13 at 7:29 am #
  21. have 2 butterfingers promation codes. br4583 and br4874 am i a winner on any three june 2013

    Comment by peggy on 6/09/13 at 7:36 am #
  22. code 3154543622 2 14T?  in Julian term wouldn’t that mean 2003 June 3Rd?

    Comment by barb on 10/06/13 at 6:45 am #
  23. I work at Shopko Optical Lab, and we received some candy to give to our employees.  I am just trying to figure out your expiration   dates.
    For example::
    I have a bag of Nestle Crunch Bars with the number 32245748314H.  Could you please decode that for me.  Thank you Martha

    Comment by Martha Boldt on 2/05/14 at 7:50 am #
  24. I AM TRYING TO FIND THE SITE WHERE I ENTER THE CODES WHERE DO I FIND THAT SITE?

    Comment by MAVIS WILLERT on 3/31/14 at 7:48 am #
  25. I have several Baby Ruth candy bars with promotional codes inside the wrapper.  I can’t find out what to do with these. What are these for?

    Comment by Emilie on 4/14/14 at 5:36 am #
  26. i have babe ruth promo code-RS7056-what does this mean?

    Comment by penny barribeau on 6/26/14 at 5:48 pm #
  27. The candy was great

    Comment by ColonelBaker on 7/21/14 at 9:28 pm #
  28. 331057472D C41

    Comment by tyesha on 7/31/14 at 8:19 am #
  29. I have several babyruth with promotional codes what do I do with them?

    Comment by Pamela Robertson on 8/01/14 at 1:37 pm #
  30. This candy is Good.

    Comment by gohnell miles on 8/23/14 at 3:33 pm #
  31. My codes #‘s are FB6991 / FB4167 / DR2977 What do these codes mean?

    Comment by Delores Kleber on 9/14/14 at 1:22 pm #
  32. Here I am contemplating what to do with a bag of Tootsie Pops.  The numbers imprinted on the outside of the bag are as follows:  F 27 4 1 3 3   05:59.  This looks like a production date.  Does F mean April?  And what about the rest of them?  27… hmmm.

    Today is October 2014.

    Comment by BeenThere on 10/14/14 at 8:54 pm #
  33. came to this site looking for Butterfinger promotion code inside the wrapper meaning, but found discussion on mfg date codes, that seems a little chaotic. when I was young, mfg dates on products, when included were vey simple and straight forward i.e. mar 25 1954. somewhere along the line they became mandatory so people could determine the likelihood of their food being safe. unfortunately it seems there was no standard enforced to make it easy for the layman to read and so, for most people it is vey difficult. So for the apparent purpose of deception, some manufactures use letters to represent months, and other esoteric characters for production line plus a coded year. those that chose Julian date, have made I difficult but not impossible to decode. they lead with the last digit of the year, followed by the number of days since the beginning of the year, as if the entire year had only one month. For example 9001 would be the first day of a year ending in 9, where 9234 would be the 234th day of a year ending in 9. the rub is, so far in my lifetime, 7 years have ended in 9, and I see no way to know which one they’re referring to. For the 1940’s and 50’s they wern’t using these cockamamie codes, so it’s no earlier than the 60’s. then one just has to know what decade the food was made in to get the year, then use an old crutch like: 30 days has September, April June and November, all the rest have 31, except February which has 28 and in leap year 29, to count of the months to determine the exact date, but for simplicity of a very complicated process, simply dividing the three digits following year, by 30 as someone suggested, will get you close enough, and you can save more time and effort by approximating that safely: in the 9234 example above its a year ending in 9 most likely 2009,if it isn’t horribly moldy, and there’s roughly 3 groups of 33 days in each 100 so 200 days gives us roughly 6 months and the extra 3 in each calculation adds 18 days and 34 on the end makes another month plus about 10 more days dropped along the way in rounding off, which added to the 18 makes one more month so July of 2009 would be close enough. which is still pretty old for candy. for the current date in 2014 we’d want something between 2 and 4 I’d say for the year, and just hope it was meant to indicate after 2010.

    Comment by Howard culpepper on 11/23/14 at 2:06 pm #
  34. How can I look up my promo code on a BabyRuth wrapper? How do you find out if its a winner or not?

    Comment by Ted on 4/29/15 at 12:58 pm #
  35. My code is BS1003. What to do with this

    Comment by LISA Baugh on 5/08/15 at 6:05 am #
  36. looking for my answer

    Comment by Ted on 5/08/15 at 10:47 pm #
  37. Nestle promotion code inside a baby ruth RS8643 what does it mean and what am I suppose to do with it

    Comment by jen fritz on 8/23/15 at 2:30 am #
  38. My code is 3315075200B. Are there anyone can help me to read this code?

    Comment by Hanna on 10/27/15 at 1:18 am #
  39. 33335
    I4412

    Original spree candy

    Comment by Heather Robertson on 11/01/15 at 7:38 pm #
  40. Baby Ruth miniature 402857472A A 4K??

    Comment by Kim on 11/02/15 at 5:13 pm #
  41. What do I do with the promotion code RS 5057?

    Comment by Judy steward on 1/04/16 at 12:31 pm #
  42. My wrapper says promo code: RS0586

    Comment by tabatha Deck on 1/11/16 at 3:02 pm #
  43. i have baby ruth code rk4684 how do i find out if its a WINNER

    Comment by mark cutler on 2/02/16 at 8:53 am #
  44. .
    THE CODES ARE FOR POSSIBLE CONTEST, THAT, MAY BE OFFERED.
    .
    THEY SAY TO CHECK THE BUTTERFINGER FACBOOK PAGE/ NESTLE FOR THESE CONTESTS.
    .
    .
    .

    Comment by JESS H. KRIEHN on 2/03/16 at 8:53 pm #
  45. My Nestle Promotion Code is
    CS9287

    Comment by Anthony W White on 2/05/16 at 7:02 am #
  46. My promotion code is PA9434

    Comment by Cardetta on 2/08/16 at 8:16 am #
  47. I just bought a nestle crunch from seven eleven and when I tasted it, it was not as good as the same ones I have been buying.

    It tasted old coconut flavor chocolate.

    I looked for an expiration and I couldn’t find any

    So when I finished eating it I noticed the code in side the wrapper and it wrote
    Nestle Promotion code CS4862


    Is this real?

    Comment by Apple on 2/17/16 at 8:37 pm #
  48. GS6792 inside my 100 Grand bar.

    Comment by Sherry Coleman on 2/29/16 at 3:38 pm #
  49. Nestle Nips peanut butter parfait
    The code number is on the box not the wrapper.
    It’s 126657472P 2L S or there might be a space between a couple of numbers making the code number look like this:
    126657 47 2 P 2L. I’m thinking the code might mean December (letter L for last month) and year 2002 because of number 2 for year?
    Please confirm date and if safe to eat?
    Also on the box side ( not face) there is a number by the UPC Code as well? 0 2800 94245 8?

    Comment by Sandie on 3/06/16 at 12:28 pm #
  50. Hey there people,
    My Nestle Cadbury Snack shortcakes bear the following code:
    L 5 215 20:18
    What does this mean?
    Does it mean that the candy was made in December of 2005? Or could it also refer to December 2015?

    After eating 4 packs, I saw that the expiry dates on all the packs have the year information rubbed :O

    Comment by Hijab on 4/15/16 at 7:45 am #
  51. I have a Baby ruth with promotion codeRS5906,, what will i do with this? glad f i won a price..


    Thanks and God blesws

    Comment by CONSUELO ALTAMIRA on 6/19/16 at 6:47 pm #
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