Mars and some Nestle chocolate products use different systems to indicate manufacturing and expiration dates on their packaging. Mars uses a code with the year and week of manufacture, so that chocolate would expire in 2011 during the 24th week (the week of June 12th), and Skittles and Milky Way would expire during the 32nd week of 2011 (the week of August 7th). Nestle uses a Julian date code on some products, indicating the year and day of manufacture, and those products typically expire 10 months later. Expiration dates on other products like Hershey's and Reese's simply use a two digit code for the year and month.

1. Mars and some Nestle chocolate products 2011 2011
Mars Manufacture or Production Date based on week Week Dates Week Dates
1 2-Jan 27 3-Jul
Note: Need shelf life to know expiration date 2 9-Jan 28 10-Jul
Mars Code Date Type – Year and Week 3 16-Jan 29 17-Jul
4 23-Jan 30 24-Jul
(Example First Digits-024) 0 = Year (2010) / 24 = Week (24) 5 30-Jan 31 31-Jul
Most products good for 12 months; Skittles are good for 14 mos. 6 6-Feb 32 7-Aug
7 13-Feb 33 14-Aug
Chocolate would expire 2011 the 24th week (wk of June 12th)
8 20-Feb 34 21-Aug
and for Skittles and Milky Way the 32nd week of 2011 (wk of Aug 7th). 9 27-Feb 35 28-Aug
10 6-Mar 36 4-Sep
Nestle Julian Manufacture or Production Date
11 13-Mar 37 11-Sep
Ex. Baby Ruth with 0127 was made in 2010 (0) on the 127th day 12 20-Mar 38 18-Sep
or May 7, 2010; expires 10 months later on March 1, 2011 13 27-Mar 39 25-Sep
14 3-Apr 40 2-Oct
Shelf Life: Nestle Crunch 15 mos, Snow Caps 24 mos, 15 10-Apr 41 9-Oct
Baby Ruth 10 mos, Butterfinger 10 mos. Range 8 to 24 months 16 17-Apr 42 16-Oct
17 24-Apr 43 23-Oct
Hershey, Reese’s, Jolly Rancher, and some Nestle products, etc.
18 1-May 44 30-Oct
Expiration Date Note: Does not require shelf life information 19 8-May 45 6-Nov
20 15-May 46 13-Nov
This code is the expiration date. Code Date Type – Year and Month
21 22-May 47 20-Nov
In 2011 using one code made up of two digits—a number and a letter 22 29-May 48 27-Nov
23 5-Jun 49 4-Dec
1A (1=Year 2011/A-(Month) January
24 12-Jun 50 11-Dec
1A will expire the last day of January 2011. 25 19-Jun 51 18-Dec
26 26-Jun 52 25-Dec
A- January B- February C- March D- April E May F-June
G-July H-August I-September J-October K-November L-December