SWEET TREAT
Can you eat chocolate after the best before date?
Find out the difference between use by and best before dates
CHOCOLATE is one of the nation's favourite treats, with many Brits naming it their number-one snack.
But with the UK facing a major chocolate shortage, you'll want to know whether you can safely enjoy the candy after the best before date has passed.
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Can you eat chocolate after the best before date?
In March 2023, a huge number of Brits admitted that they generate a lot of food waste.
This was in part due to confusion over best before and use by dates.
But luckily for chocolate fans, you don't always have to abide by the expiration date on the label to ensure your chocolate is safe to eat.
So the answer is yes — chocolate can be eaten after its best before date.
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The treat has a best before date rather than a use by date.
Best before dates refer to the time where a product will be at its best, whereas use by dates mark the date after which a food will be unsafe to eat.
After a use by date has passed, the risk of food poisoning increases, while food that has passed its best before date is still safe to eat — it might just not taste as good.
So, your Cadbury bars are still safe to eat past the date on the wrapper, they may just not be as tasty as the manufacturer intended.
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How long is chocolate good after the expiration date?
Chocolate lasts for a surprisingly long time thanks to the lack of water and the long shelf life of the cacao butter in the recipe making it a place where bacteria cannot survive.
Different varieties of chocolate last for different amounts of time.
Solid milk chocolate keeps for over a year, while solid dark chocolate can keep for nearly two.
White chocolate, however, only lasts for four months.
How to tell if your chocolate has gone off
Luckily, it should be very obvious if chocolate has gone bad.
If the sweet treat smells bad or has any kind of mould, it's definitely not safe to eat.
If there are any cracks on the surface, the chocolate is likely stale and may not taste as good as it would have when it was at its best — but it won't cause you any harm.
If it looks and smells like it's OK to eat, you can use your own judgement on whether or not you want to devour it.
How to keep chocolate fresh
While many people love to keep their chocolate cold, it is actually not recommended to keep chocolate in the fridge.
Chocolate easily absorbs odours of whatever is around it so if you keep other food items in the fridge, these could infiltrate the chocolate.
It is advised to keep chocolate in an air-tight container in a cool, dry place, away from direct sunlight.
Following these steps will give your chocolate the best chance of lasting a long time.
Is it safe to eat chocolate that has turned white?
Despite its less-than-appealing appearance, chocolate that has turned white is still perfectly safe to eat.
However, you may notice differences in taste and texture.
Chocolate turns white due to a process referred to as 'fat bloom' or 'sugar bloom', which happens when the cocoa butter reacts to exposure to moisture or changes in temperature.
This leads to a white or grey coating on the surface of the chocolate.
Can you freeze chocolate?
Yes, you can freeze chocolate — keeping it in the freezer can extend its shelf life by up to 50% if you place it inside a heavy-duty freezer bag.
As well as keeping chocolate fresher for longer, freezing also delays sugar bloom.
If frozen correctly, Dilettante reports that it will taste fresh for up to eight months.
Can shops sell chocolate after best before date?
It is perfectly legal for shops to sell chocolate after the best before date, but only if they make you aware of the fact.
Retailers must advertise the fact that it is out of date.
Although it is legal to sell chocolate after the best before date, it is illegal for them to sell any product following the passing of the use-by date.
What other foods should you ditch and are there any you can keep after the best before date?
While some foods have a "best before" date that should be strictly adhered to, others can be taken with a pinch of salt.
The foods can still safely be consumed after their "best befores" include:
- Bread - The use by date on bread assumes you’ve left it out in the kitchen. You can extend this by up to two weeks by keeping your loaf in the fridge.
- Eggs - With proper storage, eggs can stay fresh for up to five weeks past the date on the carton, though the taste and texture may be slightly different to what you're used to
- Hard cheese - Mould is unable to penetrate harder cheeses such as cheddar, so you can cut off any mould and it will be safe to eat.
- Yogurt - As long the yogurt hasn’t been opened, you can usually enjoy it for two weeks after the best before date.
- Biscuits - Although your favourite snacks might lose some of their freshness once their best by date has passed, you can eat them for a few weeks after.
- Dried pasta - While dry pasta usually comes with a long shelf life, you can push this to three years if it is stored in a cool, dry and airtight environment.
- Canned goods - As long as your cans are undamaged and stored somewhere cool away from direct light, then they can last for around four years.
- Pickles - Preserved foods such as pickles can last for up to two years past their best before date if they're stored in an airtight container in the fridge – but they may start to lose some of their crunchiness.
- Frozen vegetables - If your veg is kept frozen, in theory, they can last indefinitely. While out of date goods won’t hurt you, the texture and taste may change over time.
- Salad leaves - As long as your leaves haven’t gone mouldy, it’s perfectly safe to eat them past their use by.
- Spirits - When taken care of properly, spirits such as whiskey can be kept open-endedly and the same goes for gin and vodka.
- Milk - You may be worried about milk, but as long as it tastes and smells OK you can ignore the date on the carton.
There are some other foods, however, that are definitely not safe to eat once the "best before" date has passed, including:
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- Fresh berries - Fresh strawberries, blueberries or raspberries can carry a parasite called cyclospora - this can cause diarrhoea, vomiting and other nasty flu-like symptoms. Make sure you freeze any berries you know you won't eat in time and wash them before eating them.
- Soft cheese - Soft cheeses, such as brie, may contain Listeria, as well as E. coli —especially if they're made with unpasteurised milk - so should always be eaten by the "use by".
- Fresh meat - Freshly bought meat should either be consumed or frozen (before any bacteria has a chance to multiply).
- Fresh juices - Raw juices are unpasteurised and far more prone to contamination by bacteria so you should always chuck any that have expired.
- Sprouts - sprouting greens are grown in a warm, moist environment which means they can be prone to contamination and can grow bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella.
- Fish - You should never eat off fish. Fish that isn't fresh has increased chances of giving you listeriosis - a disease that causes abdominal pain, diarrhoea, nausea, and vomiting.
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