It represents the number of days elapsed since the beginning of the calendar year. For example, a Julian date of 031 represents January 31st and a Julian date of 365 represents December 31st. ​The Julian date usually represents the date the product was manufactured or packaged.

How do you read the Julian date on food?

The first number of the Julian Date represents the year. The last three numbers represent the day that it was manufactured. So for example, if the manufacture date was listed as 1067 that would mean that the MRE was manufactured on March 7, 2011.