How To Tell If Supermarket Bread Is Fresh—It’s Not by the Color of the Bread Tag

It’s been widely circulated that the colored tags (or ties) used to seal packaged loaves of bread indicate the day the bread was baked. But because many brands appear to use random colors or a single color, I wondered if there was any truth behind this theory. The word that’s been spread so far is that each color corresponds to the day the loaf was baked and that it’s a system designed to help employees easily identify older loaves that are ready to be pulled from shelves. Most grocery stores are believed to follow this color-coded schedule:

• Monday: Blue
• Tuesday: Green
• Thursday: Red
• Friday: White
• Saturday: Yellow

It turns out that this system was indeed an industry standard in the past—one that some brands may still adhere to today. But why are colors for Wednesday and Sunday missing from the list? The uncertain but also widely circulated answer that I found is that most bakeries don’t bake on those days. While that may be true for some, it’s a highly doubtful explanation for industrial bakeries that need to bake daily to keep up with high consumer demands. This left me wondering: What do the colored plastic tags on bread loaves really mean (and is the story behind them just a myth)? I reached out to Orion DeChristofano, director of commercial strategy at Bimbo Bakeries USA, the largest bakery company in the United States with key brands including Sara Lee, Oroweat, Thomas’ and Nature’s Harvest, to find out. 

What Do Those Color-Coded Tags Mean?

“Historically, color-coded tags have been used in the baking industry to clearly identify the day of the week that product is set to be pulled from the shelf. The color key can differ by region or organization, but when leveraging the color code system, each color represented a day of the week that signaled when the product should be taken off the shelf,” said DeChristofano.

According to DeChristofano, the system is no longer a good indicator of the freshness of their brand’s loaves. “Due to enhanced technology, our printers enabled us to move away from the color tie system. Now we leverage the product code printed on our packaging to ensure that the product is removed from the shelf so that our consumers experience the freshest product.” And he added that Bimbo Bakeries USA currently uses a universal color tie (light blue) to seal their products.

How to Choose the Freshest Supermarket Loaf

Even for those brands that may still issue color-coded tags, looking beyond the color is the best way to find out how fresh a loaf of bread is. As DeChristofano noted, bread tags are now printed with data to help employees identify the age of the bread. And this information almost always includes a “best-by” or “sell-by” date. To better understand these terms, I headed to the Department of Agriculture website to find out how the department defines them:

• A Best if Used By/Before date indicates when a product will be of best flavor or quality. It is not a purchase or safety date.
• A Sell-By date tells the store how long to display the product for sale for inventory management. It is not a safety date.

In other words, the “best by” date is a good indicator of freshness but doesn’t guarantee a product’s safety for consumption before the given date. And if you find a loaf with a tag that has a “sell-by” date that is near, or even past, the current date, it might still taste fine, but a fresher loaf would be an ideal choice.

So, what if there is no date printed on the tag at all? That’s where some pro baker tips come in. “When selecting a quality prepackaged loaf of bread, whether organic or non-organic, it’s important to be aware that it can dry out faster than its expiration date suggests,” said Jennifer Mesinger, executive pastry chef and co-founder of Lucky’s Bakehouse. “To ensure freshness, gently squeeze the loaf—it should spring back, a key sign of its freshness. Next, take a moment to inhale; the yeasty aroma is a clear indicator that the bread still has its full flavor. Lastly, check the bag for excessive crumbs, which can signal that the bread has already begun to dry out.” While expiration dates are helpful, these sensory clues will give you a better idea of the bread’s true freshness. Additionally, Adrian Hale, baker and blogger at Thousand Bites of Bread, advised to avoid packages that are smashed, as they can cause the bread to have an undesirable dense texture.

The Bottom Line

Because the color-coded bread tag system is no longer a universal practice in the industry, it’s better to determine the freshness of a loaf by looking at the “best-by” and “sell-by” dates printed on the tags, when available. And according to pro bakers, using your senses is an even better method. So be sure to look, smell and feel for signs of freshness, and avoid crumbling or smashed loaves.