Every year, many food, beauty and medicinal products are thrown away due to misreading expiration dates. Learn the difference between an open code, which is a code that shows the best timeframe for a product to be used, and a closed code, which is a code that shows the date of manufacture of a product. By studying the meaning of both, you can find out how long a food product can be stored, how long a medicine in the cupboard can last, and how long a beauty product can be used. This will help you become a better consumer, as well as save a lot of money because not a single product is wasted!
Step
Method 1 of 2: Reading Date on “Open Code”
Step 1. Look for the date followed by the words “use before”, “sell before, or “good use before”
Check the bottom of the product, the sides of the container, the cap, and the neck of the bottle. This number is usually stamped there and is sometimes difficult to read or find, depending on where it is installed.
- Most beauty products don't include an expiration date, but some do. Remember, most beauty products have a shelf life of 30 months. Once opened, you should use the product within 1 year. However, if the smell and consistency do not change, you can judge for yourself the worthiness of the product.
- The type of date included in the label is included in the “open code”. This means that the product or food manufacturer affixes the date so that it can be seen by consumers or sellers in stores. There are also “closed codes”, but these codes are made for producers, not consumers.
Do you know?
Expiry dates for food, medicine, and beauty products are not strictly regulated by BPOM. This calendar is entirely made by the manufacturer of a product. This is one of the reasons why this code is sometimes difficult to read and consumers sometimes find it difficult to understand how long a product can last before being used.
Step 2. Use the “good before” date to determine the freshness or effectiveness of a product
A “good used before” date is created for the consumer. However, this date does not indicate that a food, drug, or beauty product has expired after that date. It simply means that a product is at its best or most effective before the stated date.
- If a food product smells bad, is moldy, or discolored, throw it away immediately. If it smells the same, looks unchanged, and has been stored properly, the product should still be safe to eat.
- If a beauty product smells weird or has a change in consistency, it's probably broken. For example, a lotion may thicken while a liquid foundation will set when it expires.
- It is quite difficult to identify drugs that are no longer effective. Most over-the-counter medications are effective for up to 10 years after their expiration date. The best way to judge this is to ask yourself if you want the drug to work 100%. If so, you should not take drugs that are past their expiration date.
Step 3. Replace the product on the shelf after it has passed the “good before” date if you are a retailer
You can consume food products for at least 7 to 10 days after this date. However, most retailers are usually ready to get rid of old stock in order for new stock to be sold. Beauty and drug products usually don't include this date unless they contain fresh ingredients.
If you're shopping and find a food product that's past its “good before” date, you can still buy it. Just remember that the product should be consumed immediately within a week or less
Step 4. Use the “use before” label as a benchmark for the expiration date of a product
This date does not indicate that a food, beauty, or drug product is no longer safe or has expired. For food products, this date indicates that you need to be careful when opening them because the contents could be rotten or damaged. For other products, this date indicates that the product may not be as effective as before.
- The “use it before” date has more to do with the quality of a product than its safety for consumption. Remember, the date is affixed by the manufacturer, not BPOM.
- Some food products also include a “freeze before” label to let consumers know how long they can keep the product in the refrigerator before transferring it to the freezer so that no product is wasted.
- Watch for unpleasant odors or changes in consistency in food and beauty products. This indicates that the product is no longer fit for use or is no longer fit for consumption.
- You can assume that a drug product is still effective after several years of purchase, but you can also change the product if you are concerned that its effectiveness has decreased, for example for painkillers or allergy pills.
Method 2 of 2: Interpreting Dates in “Closed Code”
Step 1. Pay attention to the closed code in the form of a “made/manufactured on” date
Most beauty products and canned products have codes that list a series of combinations of numbers and letters or just numbers. If this code is not included with text such as “use before”, “sell before”, or “good use before”, this means that the code indicates the production date of the product in question. There are several forms of closed code that can be listed:
Tip:
Remember, closed codes don't tell you the expiration date of a product. However, this code is used for inventory and product tracking purposes by the manufacturer.
Step 2. Pay attention to the letters that indicate the month of production of a product
If the code listed on a product includes letters, you can use the letters A to L to find the month of production. The months in question are January (A), February (B), March (C), and so on. Pay attention to the number that comes after the letter. The number indicates the date and year of production of a product.
- For example, if a product lists the code “D1519”, the code indicates April 15, 2019.
- There are many products that list both closed codes and open codes at the same time. If the number listed does not include other words such as “use it before” or “use it before”, that number is a closed code and does not refer to the quality of a food product.
Step 3. Read the code containing the sequence of numbers as “day, month, year” in order
If the code you find is 6 digits long, it probably represents the day-month-year. Read the code with the DDMMYY formula. "DD" means date (date), "MM" means month (month), while "YY" means year (year). This is one of the most common codes you can find on food products in Indonesia.
- For example, “120521” could be read May 12, 2021.
- There are some manufacturers who use the year-month-day order. For example, May 12, 2021 could be written “210512”.
Step 4. Interpret the 3-digit code as the date in the year of manufacture of a product
This number is known as the Julian calendar code. In the United States, this code is generally used on egg packaging, but can also be found on canned products. Each day of the year (365 days) has a different numerical value, namely “001” for January 1 and “365” for December 31.
For example, if a can of olive oil shows a 3-digit code that reads “213”, this code indicates that the product was produced on August 1
Tip:
For eggs, you should buy products that are still within 30 days of the code so that the eggs are still safe for consumption. You can also test the freshness of eggs by putting them in a bowl of cold water. An egg that sinks means it's still fresh. If the tip of the egg is standing in the water, the egg is old.
