Store employees use 'open dating,' the calendar date on food packages, to decide when to pull an item from the shelf. For consumers, the date indicates freshness or quality. Use both the date itself and the phrase in front of the date, such as 'use by' or 'best by' to make your decision on which milk carton or cookie package to choose.
Take an extra second or two when taking foods off the shelves at the store so you can bring home the item with the longest use-by or best-by date available.
Federal law doesn't require manufacturers or stores to use opening dating, except for infant formula, but some states have their own requirements. If manufacturers choose to use dates, they must indicate the month, the day and a phrase explaining the date:
Eggs are in a class by themselves when it comes to dating. A three-digit code on the carton represents the day the eggs were packed, with January 1 indicated as 001 and December 31st as 365. The sell-by date can be up to 45 days beyond the pack date, but you can still use the eggs safely after that time for an additional 3 to 5 weeks, according to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln website.
Open dating doesn't tell you whether or not your food is safe. According to a 2013 report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, Americans waste 160 billion pounds of food each year, mistakenly throwing away products because they believe that open dating indicates whether or not a food is safe to eat.
Because food within a 'use by' or 'best by' date can still be unsafe due to improper storage either at the store or at your home, learning about food safety is essential. You can do this in a number of ways:
The U.S. does not have a uniform system of coding expiration dates on food products as of 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The federal government only requires expiration dates on baby foods and infant formula. Other dating on food products is voluntary. Open dating uses calendar dates and closed, or coded, dating is a process used by manufacturers to help with managing inventory. Closed coding is used on products with longer shelf lives, such as canned and boxed foods. The USDA notes that while closed codes could refer to manufacturing date, the codes are not intended for consumer use and no single translation source exists.
Kellogg’s includes manufacture codes on products to show customers the date by which they should consume them. You can still eat Kellogg’s products after the printed date, but vitamin and mineral content usually decline past the product’s expiration. Kellogg’s uses different expiration codes for different products; they usually consist of a combination of numbers and letters. Learning how to read expiration codes on Kellogg's products will enable you to determine if your cereal is past its consumption date.
Locate the product code on the top flap of the cereal box.
Read the first three letters or two numbers to determine the product's expiration month. For example, a product that expires in February will start with 'FEB' or '02.'
Interpret the two numbers following the first three letters or first two numbers as the product’s expiration day. The '01' in a product with the code 'FEB 01 2010 AOJ' or '020110AB' represents the first day of the month--in this case, February.
Read the last two or four numbers following the expiration day as the expiration year. The '2010' in a product with an expiration code 'FEB 01 2010 AOJ' represents year 2010, as does '10' in a product with an expiration code '020110AB.'
Any letters and numbers following the expiration year indicate Kellogg's manufacturing locations.
Subsidiary | |
Industry | Food processing |
---|---|
Founded | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. (1853; 166 years ago) |
Founder | Godfrey Keebler |
Headquarters | Battle Creek, Michigan, U.S. |
Area served | Nationwide |
Products | cookies crackers ice cream |
Parent | United Biscuits (1974–1995) Flowers Industries (1995–1998) Kellogg's (2001–present) Ferrero SpA (Pending) |
Website | keebler.com |
The Keebler Company is the second largest cookie and cracker manufacturer in the United States. Founded in 1853, it has produced numerous baked snacks.[1] Keebler has marketed its brands such as Cheez-It (which have the Sunshine Biscuits brand), Chips Deluxe, Club Crackers, E.L. Fudge Cookies, Famous Amos, Fudge Shoppe Cookies, Murray cookies, Austin, Plantation, Vienna Fingers, Town House Crackers, Wheatables, Sandie's Shortbread, Chachos and Zesta Crackers, among others.The Keebler slogans are 'Uncommonly Good' and 'a little elfin magic goes a long way'. Tom Shutter and Leo Burnett wrote the familiar jingle.[1] The Keebler brand is set to be sold by the Kellogg Company to Ferrero SpA.
Godfrey Keebler, of German descent, opened a bakery in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1853. His bakery networked with several other local bakeries around the country over the years, and in 1927 they merged into the United Biscuit Company of America.[2]
United Biscuit operated regional bakeries which included not only Keebler, but also Hekman Biscuit Company of Grand Rapids, Michigan,[3][4] the Strietmann Biscuit Company of Mariemont, Ohio[5] and the Bowman Biscuit Company of Denver which used the Supreme brand name.[6][7] By 1963, United Biscuit introduced the Kitchen Rich brand nationally while still utilizing the regional brand names.[8] In 1966, United Biscuit decided to adopt a uniform brand name and chose Keebler as the national brand and the name of the company.[9] Keebler did adopt Streitmann's Zesta saltine brand as Keebler's national brand of saltine crackers.[10]
Keebler-Weyl Bakery became the official baker of Girl Scout Cookies in 1936, the first commercial company to bake the cookies (the scouts and their mothers had done it previously). By 1978, four companies were producing the cookies.[11] Little Brownie Bakers is the Keebler division still licensed to produce the cookies.
Keebler was acquired by United Biscuits in 1974,[12] headquartered in West Drayton, Middlesex, England.[13] In 1995, United Biscuits sold Keebler to a partnership between Flowers Industries and Artal Luxembourg, a private equity firm.[14] Artal Luxembourg sold its holdings in Keebler in an IPO in 1998.[15]
In 2000, the Keebler Company acquired a license to produce snacks based on the popular children's show Sesame Street.[16]
In March 2001, The Keebler Company was acquired by the Kellogg Company.[1] At that time, headquarters were located in Elmhurst, Illinois.[17] Currently, Keebler has manufacturing plants in the United States, Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia.[citation needed]
The animated Keebler Elves, led by 'Ernest J. 'Ernie' Keebler', rank among the best-known characters from commercials[citation needed]. Ernest is the head elf and the most friendly of the bunch. He runs the workshop with an iron fist. The elves have appeared in countless television advertisements throughout the years, shown baking their unique products.[18] In the commercials, The Keebler tree logo is often turned into the tree in which the elves reside.
Leo Burnett Worldwide, an advertising agency, created the elves in 1968, calling the bakery 'The Hollow Tree Factory.'[13]
J.J. Keebler was the original 'king elf' in 1969, and was featured in a classroom film about how animated commercials are made, 'Show and Sell,' with J.J.'s voice performed by Alan Reed Sr. Ernie Keebler became 'head elf' in 1970.[19] White-haired Ernie wears a green jacket, a white shirt with a yellow tie, a red vest, and floppy shoes.[19]
Ernie Keebler was first voiced by Walker Edmiston, later by Parley Baer, and then Andre Stojka.
Other elves were Fryer Tuck (who promoted 'Munch-ems'), Ernie's nephews Zoot and J.J. (known for Pizzarias Pizza Chips), Ernie's mother Ma Keebler, young Elmer Keebler, Buckets (who threw fudge on the cookies), Fast Eddie (who wrapped the products), Sam (the peanut butter baker), Roger (the jeweler), Doc (the doctor and cookie maker), Zack (the fudge shoppe supervisor), Flo (the accountant), Leonardo (the artist),[13] Elwood (who ran through the dough),[19] Professor, Edison, Larry and Art.[13]Many of the Keebler commercials were narrated by the announcer Danny Dark. The first Keebler elves were drawn by children's author/illustrator and commercial artist Roger Bradfield.
Examples of Keebler products include: