Expert reveals the food packet secret codes you’ll wish you’d known sooner and what those coloured dots REALLY mean
IT’S not often that shoppers have the time or the inclination to look at the details on grocery packaging. But 28-year-old Maneet Kaur, from Leicester, recently revealed how doing so can actually save you loads of money thanks to “secret” batch codes. In the viral TikTok clip, Maneet compared a 53p 500g packet of penne pasta […]
IT’S not often that shoppers have the time or the inclination to look at the details on grocery packaging.
But 28-year-old Maneet Kaur, from Leicester, recently revealed how doing so can actually save you loads of money thanks to “secret” batch codes.
In the viral TikTok clip, Maneet compared a 53p 500g packet of penne pasta from Tesco with a packet by Hearty Food Co that was on sale for 29p.
Both items had identical batch codes on the back, so Maneet claimed they were made in the same place and that shoppers are spending 24p more for the Tesco packaging.
Fabulous spoke to food safety expert Jenna Brown, also known as the Food Safety Mum, who said despite the code being the same, it doesn’t mean you’re getting exactly the same product.
She explains: “While you can use the coding on packaging to identify the same manufacturer, this does not mean that this is the same product is simply just being packaged in different packaging.
“The recipe formulation for the products is often unique to each individual brand, for example, a supermarket own brand recipe may well be inferior to a ‘luxury’ or ‘finest’ branded item resulting in a different product despite them being manufactured at the same site (even on the same production line!).”
But that’s not the only detail on food packaging that usually goes unnoticed, and we have all the answers you need.
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Best Before and Used By dates
While the best before and used-by date isn’t exactly unknown, there are some key differences between the two some people might not be aware of.
“A ‘Best before’ date (otherwise known as BBE or Best before end) is provided for quality purposes. Whereas a use-by date is provided for safety reasons,” the food safety expert explains.
Unlike the use-by date, food is safe to be eaten past the BBE date, but avoid consuming anything after the use-by date shown.
Another date that you may see on food packaging is ‘Display until’ however, this is for the retailer only and can be ignored by consumers.
Coloured Dots
Last year, TikTok user Sonya Gonzalez Mier pointed out the row of coloured dots often seen on packets of crisps and other packaged foods.
The woman, who works in food marketing, revealed that they’re actually referred to as “colour control patches” and it’s used in the factory when the packaging is being printed.
“They are colour control patches, we need them because the colours that you see on the packaging are not actually the colours that we’re printing. Let me explain…,” she said.
“To choose the colours that you see on the packaging, we actually layer colours and the colour patches are the colours we are layering on top of each other to achieve the colours you see.
“To make sure the colours are correct, we look at the colour control patches and if they’re slightly off, we know that the whole packaging will be off.”
Julian Date Codes
Another mystery item that’s included on food items is what’s commonly referred at ‘Julian Date’ codes.
Jenna explains: “This is a universal date coding system which allows manufacturers to identify the exact time (for example the factory, production line, date & time) that the food was packaged.
“This can then be used for traceability purposes in response to complaints or recalls.”
The food safety expert revealed that the Julian date code is always in a 24-hour format to prevent any confusion.
Vegan Trademark
If you’ve cut out animal products from your diet then you’d be looking for the Vegan Trademark on your food packaging.
The good news is that all products featuring the logo are safe for vegans to consume but the same can’t be said if you’re allergic.
Jenna explains: “A product may be suitable for vegans, but this does not mean that the product does not have a ‘may contain’ allergen warning for animal-based allergens (such as egg & milk).
“This means there could still be a risk of cross-contamination with these allergens during manufacture.”
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