Override date-format

From a database I import to Excel a large table of mostly name codes.
One of the codes is SEP01 for "Separator Type 1", but Excel thinks it is a date code and writes Sep-01 and stores the number 37135.
Oother types are like NovaZeck-08, abbreviated NOV08 and you can imagine how Excel interprets that.

Is there a way to avoid this confusion, eg a special set-up of Excel?


NSV