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Hey guys,

Could you help me decode the stickers on the EPas? I'm looking for production and/or best before dates.
I like to catalogue things

The one with roman numerals (Typ I,II,III) have a small sticker on the side, Type I's saying for example "EPa-I-0113-18" or "EPa-I-0110-08" or Type II saying "EPa-II-0113-14".
So I'm guessing it's something like:
"EPa-<type>-<yyym>-<dd>"
where yyy, m, dd is year, month and day of production respectively, but there are more than 10 months in a year, so.. maybe there's some system where 2 months are never present?
Maybe it's something completely different, like batch numbers or something...?

The newer ones with arabic/european numerals (Typ 1,2,3,...) have a sticker on the top saying for example "BV 1 2013".
Wild guess, "BV <M YYYY>" with M for Month and YYYY for year of production? or is it best before?
There's also a smaller sticker with a 3-digit number that might be the day of production, or just a batch number?

Hilfe!

All I can tell you is, Roman numbers are before 2012, Arabic numbers are pre-2012.

I asked the quarter master of the Bundeswehr about these labelings but they denied the answer to us
Although the stickers say something with 2013, it doesn´t refer to their date of production as I´ve seen EPas with a 2012 sticker were 2015 made.

Best by date is production + 3.5 years. That´s when the Bundeswehr rotates them.

housil wrote:All I can tell you is, Roman numbers are before 2012, Arabic numbers are pre-2012.

Not to nitpick, but were there no EPas produced in 2012? (You mention before/after 2012).
Also, you mean Arabic numbers are post-2012

housil wrote: I asked the quarter master of the Bundeswehr about these labelings but they denied the answer to us
Although the stickers say something with 2013, it doesn´t refer to their date of production as I´ve seen EPas with a 2012 sticker were 2015 made.

Best by date is production + 3.5 years. That´s when the Bundeswehr rotates them.

So opening up and inspecting the contents is the only option then.
I assume the dates printed on the cans are production dates?

I have always wondered about this too!

From what i read the sticker which says BV 1 2013 just says the Contract nr. under which the EPa is produced.
The current contract is BV 1 2013, it doesnt say anything about the DOP.
The German Epa is abit cryptic about the production date, you have to open it to find out the Date.

Synthpeter wrote: Not to nitpick, but were there no EPas produced in 2012? (You mention before/after 2012).
Also, you mean Arabic numbers are post-2012

The switch was during the year of 2012. Ups, you are right, "post"

Synthpeter wrote: So opening up and inspecting the contents is the only option then.
I assume the dates printed on the cans are production dates?

Yes.
Each item had the year of production stamped on it.

So I got an official answer about these stickers. They are just a "packing sticker". The numbers do not refer to a year.

Very interesting Housil (and kinda disappointing that they don't make it easy)!

housil wrote:All I can tell you is, Roman numbers are before 2012, Arabic numbers are pre-2012.

What's wrong with this picture?


Yes, the can came from that ration.

Synthpeter wrote: Yes, the can came from that ration.

Do all items have a 2013 date?