During the past several years there has been increasing interest in “consumer protection”, and much emphasis has been placed on the provision of sufficient information to enable consumers to make wise choices. Currently there is a controversy as to whether information concerning food products should include a date printed in a form that is meaningful to the consumer. The question is not whether dating should be used at all, since most manufacturers do mark on their products the date of manufacture and other information, in coded form. The question, rather, is whether the consumer should be able to read or de-code the date information, or whether such information should remain unknown to the buyer.