[Ads-l] Julian date

[Bill Mullins]

>  And this is where my surprise comes in. Apparently, "Julian Date" has been
>  in use in manufacturing/retail since the 1940s (at least) to refer not to
>  Scaliger's JD number but to the number of days from 1 January of the
>  current year. There are several coding variations that incorporate the last
>  two or just the last digit of the year, but, for many perishables, just the
>  three-digit number is used for packaging date. You fill find this number on
>  packages of mushrooms, eggs, bagged lettuce and a few other things (e.g.,
>  Belgian beer) - unless a sell-by, best-by or expiration date is listed
>  instead (eggs include both).

>  The industry standard is "Julian Date" and not "Julian Date Code".

>  https://eggsafety.org/understanding-dates-egg-cartons/

>  VS-)

I'm surprised that this sense is not in the OED.  I'm well familiar with its use in federal government
bureaucracy - It is used to calculate the number of days from one event to another routinely in pay cycles,
contract lengths and periods of performance, etc.  Calendars printed and supplied by the Government Printing
Office and the General Services Administration for internal and office use will typically have the Julian Date
printed on each day:  January 1 will have a 1, Feb 28 will have a 59, Mar 1 will have 60 or 61 depending on
whether the year in question is a leap year, etc.




Julian date -- number of days into a calendar year; Jan 1 = 1, Dec 31 = 365 or 366 (leap year)
Not in OED


1964  Quincy MA Patriot Ledger 21 Mar 11/4 [genealogybank]

A Julian date with the days numbered from 1 to 365 is used to indicate the shipment date.



1971 Air Force Times Family Section 7 Apr 7/2  [genealogybank]

By now, most of us know that milk and eggs are stamped with a Julian date (like today, the 097th day of 1971) while bread has a colored wire twist signifying the day it is fresh -- red for Monday, white for Tuesday, etc.


1978 [Wichita Falls] Sheppard Senator 2 Feb 2/4   [genealogybank]

The three-digit number in parenthesis after the dates of the member's transactions is the Julian date the transaction was processed at the AFAFC.


1994 The Morning Call 18 May D2/6

Some eggs have a Julian date (1 through 365) displayed on their cartons to indicate the day they were packed.

https://www.newspapers.com/image/276456165/?match=1&terms=%22julian%20date%22%20-gregorian&search-id=e74a6c5f-f84d-4de2-9ed1-b7217465057e&search-rank=9

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