Packaged foods
Kraft Mac & Cheese Batch Code Decoder
Kraft Heinz stamps every blue box of macaroni and cheese with a YJJJ Julian + plant + shift code on the side panel near the UPC.
Decode your Kraft Mac & Cheese code
Format: YJJJ + plant + shift. Example:
Enter a code above to decode the production date.
Format
YJJJ + plant + shift
Example
6099G2
Year digit 6 + DOY 099 + plant G + shift 2.
Typical freshness
1 year
from production date
About Kraft Mac & Cheese batch codes
Kraft Heinz prints a Julian production code on every box of its classic blue-box macaroni and cheese, Velveeta shells and cheese, Kraft Dinner (in Canada), and related dry-mix products. The code is typically found on the side panel of the box near the UPC and follows the same YJJJ + plant letter + shift digit structure the rest of the company uses. A box stamped 6099G2 was packaged on April 9, 2026 at plant G during the second shift. Unopened dry macaroni and cheese has a best-quality window of approximately twelve months from production, after which the pasta is still safe and edible but the enriched-flour vitamins and the cheese-powder flavors begin to fade. The Julian on the box is the one that matters for consumer-end decisions; a separate "best when used by" calendar date printed elsewhere on the package is derived from the Julian by adding the 365-day freshness window.
Need the general technique for any package? See how to read a Julian date code. For the regulatory background on lot traceability, read the manufacturing guide, or convert any date on the converter.
This decoder is based on Kraft Mac & Cheese's publicly documented code format. Manufacturers can change codes without notice — treat the result as an estimate and check any printed best-by date.