I bought a bottle of juice today, and the "Best Before" date it's "11 MA 23". I always see "MA" as for March, but the store staff said that was May.
What is your opinion?
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16That they should use MAR or MAY. And if that one character is so very important, then MR or MY if not the number 03 or 05. MA is much too ambiguous to be of use to the consumer.– snumpyApr 18, 2011 at 14:21
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21What's two months, give or take, if the year is 2023? (2123? 5823?)– RegDwigнt ♦Apr 18, 2011 at 14:37
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2@roe: but where's the fun in that? (My whole point is that the date is ambiguous in more than one way.)– RegDwigнt ♦Apr 18, 2011 at 15:08
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5@jasper most languages that use March/May use latin months so they are very similar. The irony here is that we often use the word for months to avoid the AE/BE ambiguity of which order the date and month go in!– mgbApr 18, 2011 at 16:15
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11Just drink it. If you live, it meant May.– Jason SwettApr 19, 2011 at 13:41
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5 Answers
Looks like the store staff was right, MA=May. This is from an answer to a similar question on a Canadian website:
Ah, I love this time of year.
I get asked this question twice a day at work (grocery store).
It Goes:
JA FE MR AP MA JN JL AU SE OC NO DE
One more year, and I'll have a song a la "Sound of Music"
Other sources seem to confirm that these two-letter month abbreviations were first used in Canada.
Edit: Here's further confirmation from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency:
The bilingual symbols for the months in the durable life date are as follows:
JA for JANUARY
FE for FEBRUARY
MR for MARCH
AL for APRIL
MA for MAY
JN for JUNE
JL for JULY
AU for AUGUST
SE for SEPTEMBER
OC for OCTOBER
NO for NOVEMBER
DE for DECEMBER
answered Apr 18, 2011 at 15:21
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18I don't think so - in Canada they go: Wi Wi Wi Wi Wi RR (road repair) Wi Wi Wi Wi Wi– mgbApr 18, 2011 at 15:29
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3Seconding this answer — I moved to Canada this year and met the two-letter codes the first time, and inquired and found out what they mean. But whatever committee decided that MA was better than MY really should have had their acronym license revoked…– PLLApr 18, 2011 at 17:19
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37@jasper: Maybe because these abbreviations also work in French? MR: MaRch and MaRs, MA: MAy and MAi, but not MY.– user4438Apr 18, 2011 at 17:30
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5
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6The bilingualism also explains the use of "AL" instead of "AP" for April.– DanApr 18, 2011 at 23:05
MA refers to May.
As someone already said, the abbreviations are carefully chosen so that they work in both English and French. MA for mai or May. MR for mars or March.
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1
What is your opinion?
It is ambiguous for English speakers. From other answers here I see it causes widespread confusion. Any standard that causes widespread confusion is probably not a good standard.
Off-topic digression:
In the part of the world I inhabit, "Best before" dates are about peak flavour/texture/aroma, they are not about safety.
Best before About flavour and texture Use by Health and safety Sell by Shop stock rotation Display until Shop stock rotation
From a BBC article
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@jasper: If "best before" were about safety, the vendors that use "best before" would already be sued out of existence. Apr 19, 2011 at 0:30
You bought a bottle of juice today (04/18/11) and the best-before (BB) date reads "11 MA 23". Well, no reputable store would display a bottle of juice—a highly perishable food—that is over a month past its BB date. Thus, the MA in the BB date must stand for May.
Watch out! Sometimes MA on expiry dates on Canadian products is actually neither March nor May, but in fact an abbreviation for "meilleur avant": French for "best before".
