# Twinkies Date Code **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294 "2013-03-29T21:10:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [March 29, 2013, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/1 "2013-03-29T21:10:39Z")
Today I found a twin pack of Twinkies at the grocery store. It was sitting in a box of chewing gum on the impulse shelf at the checkout line. Impulsively I bought it. I thought they’d be all gone far before now. Anyways, I’m at home trying to figure out how old they are. The date code isn’t in plain language and I couldn’t find any way to decipher it on the 'Net. If anyone knows what the date code “53 271E 05:01” means on the Gregorian calendar, I’d love to know. This is not a “needs answer fast:” I don’t plan on eating them. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/2 "2013-03-30T00:05:11Z")
Let’s see if this is useful at all - I didn’t read either article completely but on first glance they seem helpful: [First Article Found](http://lancaster.unl.edu/food/ftjan05.htm) [Second article found - I think this one seems more helpful than the first](http://www.livestrong.com/article/277590-how-to-read-food-expiration-date-codes/) ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/3 "2013-03-30T18:01:09Z")
Thanks. The articles are good but don’t cover this date code. Maybe I’ll bring them to a university lab for a carbon dating or something. ---
**Author:** ![Michael63129](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3da27b/32.png) [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/4 "2013-03-30T19:38:36Z")
> [@Caractacus\_Pott](#): > > Thanks. The articles are good but don’t cover this date code. Maybe I’ll bring them to a university lab for a carbon dating or something. I assume this was meant as a joke, since radiocarbon dating isn’t anywhere near [accurate](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiocarbon_dating#Calibration_methods) enough to get within more than a few decades of the real age. The [last shipment of Twinkies](http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/12/news/companies/hostess-twinkies/index.html) that I could find was in mid-December, so they are probably at least 3 1/2 months old by now (far beyond their [25 day shelf life](http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/twinkies.asp)). ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/5 "2013-03-30T19:41:52Z")
Despite urban legend, twinkies go stale pretty fast. The ones near expiration date aren’t as soft as ones eaten well ahead of that date, and ones a week or 2 past are getting into nasty territory. I figure you’re just doing this as a lark, but if you were to eat them, you wouldn’t like it. Someone’s bought the rights, and word is we should see some fresh ones this summer. I’m torn between hoping they bring back the banana creme ones, or hoping they don’t 'cause I don’t need to be eating them. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/6 "2013-03-31T12:28:46Z")
Again, thanks all. I’m curious about the date simply because I’ve gotten very old food at this store before. Once I got those eggs in a milk carton that were 3 months beyond the sell by date. The assumption that these Twinkies were from the last production run isn’t a given. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/7 "2013-03-31T12:53:46Z")
> [@Caractacus\_Pott](#): > > Again, thanks all. I’m curious about the date simply because I’ve gotten very old food at this store before. Once I got those\*\* eggs in a milk carton\*\* that were 3 months beyond the sell by date. The assumption that these Twinkies were from the last production run isn’t a given. Eggs in a milk carton? ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/8 "2013-03-31T13:11:43Z")
Like [Egg Beaters](http://www.eggbeaters.com/). It’s a godsend for those of us who don’t use eggs very often, except when they’re old and smelly. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/9 "2013-03-31T16:27:02Z")
If the Twinkie has a light blue handkerchief, you should suck the filling out first. If it has a yellow handkerchied, dunk it in milk. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/10 "2013-03-31T16:55:48Z")
Date codes can be anything really. What looks like the time at the end of the code probably is, the ink jet printers can be programed to include the time. The “E” is probably the shift or crew that produced the batch. Not sure how those numbers translate into the date. One is probably the plant/facility number. I worked in a feed manufacturing plant and we used a date code derived from something like this: S O U T H E R N P A C I FIC 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 3-31-13 would be UUSSU. If someone called and wanted to know when the feed was made we would tell them but it was less of a concern to the customer than seeing the actual date for some reason. We shared the date code translation with the quality control people at the customer’s end so they could rotate stock. To the feed handler the actual date that shows the feed to be 2 months old caused more concern than if they were told that the feed was well within it’s shelf life. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2013, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/11 "2013-03-31T17:17:59Z")
Hand to God I thought this was going to be a thread on the signal codes effeminate gay men use in clubs to indicate what style of sex they like. ---
**Author:** ![Caractacus\_Pott](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e19b73/32.png) [@Caractacus\_Pott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caractacus_Pott)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2013, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/twinkies-date-code/654294/12 "2013-04-01T16:39:51Z")
Dallas, that sounds like it could work. I wonder what the “word” is?