The Bread Code

Did you know that the colors of the tie tags on loaves of bread represent the day of the week on which it was baked? They do. I just found out. I can't believe I've gone my whole life not knowing this. Paul Michael, from Wise Bread, suggests an easy way to remember the color code: "Recall the alphabet. The colors run in alphabetical order, so the earlier they appear in the alphabet, the earlier in the week the bread was baked."

This system originated to help supermarkets and grocers quickly distinguish which bread was new, which was ready for a sale tag, and which had expired and can no longer be sold. You shouldn't see more than two or three tag colors on the shelves at once unless a specific bread maker is using their own system that includes "sell by" dates on the tags. Read more about the bread code here and here.