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Hi,

here I want to discuss the dating of MCIs, the single cans without having any case.

By all Crackers cans I own its clear, in each the month and year in which the can was issued is stamped in the lid, for e. g. 1-62 or 9 80.

Also I have some old cake cans, here the date is stamped on the bottom of the can, for e. g. "Pound Cake" 25 10 70.

But I´am not sure with dating of peanut butter, cheese spread, jam, the main entrees, the fruit entrees or the "newer" cakes. By these cans there is always a number (sometimes additional letters) stamped in the lid of the can, but the code the way MRE entrees are dated is another one.

Here some examples:

Jam, Grape; Kern Foods: A 02029
Jam, Pineapple; Kern Foods: A 04049
Cheese Spread Cheddar, Caraway; Real Fresh Foods: 9061
Cheese Spread Cheddar, Hickory Smoke; Real Fresh Foods: 80095
Peanut Butter; Kern Foods: GX 08118
Peanut Butter; Kern Foods: GX 20108


I have some suspicion, for e. g. 08118 stands for 08. November 1978, but I´m not really sure!!

Do everyone know, what these numbers and letters mean and whether teh cans can be dated by them?

Thanks a lot,

mreheater72

Hey mreheater72 - I know we talked about this in a later thread on c-ration can dating but I thought I'd reply here to at least have something in the thread.

I took a look at the MCI cans I have at home and they have a lot of codes stamped on them like you mentioned. A few of the cans from 1979 had the codes "2 79" stamped on them and this made me think they might have been actual date codes. But other cans (most likely from 1974) had a code like "A 02029" and didn't seem to relate to a date.

By the way, here's the link to the other thread:

viewtopic.php?t=749

Hi kman,

at first thanks a lot for "studies"!

Yesterday I sent a private message in german language to housil with my suggestions for dating MCI`s (its very hard for me to explain this topic in the english language). In the next days I will try to tranlsate the contents of this message an put it into the forum!

Best wishes mreheater72

Hi mreheater,

maybe you can ask olli/housil about translating it.

What do you think about meeting us on 17. march, there will be a "stammtisch" meeting of militar vehicle owners in my hometown, organized by me.
Maybe its not to far for you, 97537 i live.

bye

jubifahrer

mreheater72,

Feel free to drop your reply into http://babelfish.altavista.com - it's always fun to see what kind of translations it comes up with. For example, here's what it says I'm saying in German:

Mit Gefühl frei, zum Ihrer Antwort in http://babelfish.altavista.com fallenzulassen - es ist immer der Spaß, zum zu sehen, welcher Art von Übersetzungen es oben kommt. Z.B. ist hier, was es sagt, daß ich auf Deutsch sage:

and here's that German translated back into English by babelfish:

With feeling freely to drop to your answer in Alta Vista - it is always the fun to see to which kind of translations it comes above. E.G. it is here which says it that I on German legend.

You be the judge - stunningly accurate machine translation? Or "thanks for making me laugh so hard I just spit up my coffee"?

Thanks kman, I will try it!!

Best wishes mreheater72