in date or not??

shykins

i purchased some chocolates today with a date printed on the bottom of 05 2006.. it doesnt say best before or use by etc

so whats the considered opinion should they be used before end of may or before the start of may (ie april)

i think it means they are still in date til the end of may but others disagree so would like to know what you lot think

thanks very much

uberzoldat

I would say that it is the end, as somewhere else on the package, things generally say "for bbe see bottom" or lid or whatever.

That is what I would assume anyway. Although I've never worried about end dates for chocolate, they would never last that long in my house

shykins

see thats what i think but unfortunately i have to worry about them cos we want to use them as prizes for something in may

lol at not lasting but i do have 10 boxes

jenniferpa

They're fine until the end of May. As a matter of interest what do the "others" you refer to think? I can't see any other possible option, but maybe I'm being particularly dense.

uberzoldat

According to the Food Standards Agency, a 'use-by' date is most likely to be used if the food is "microbiologically highly perishable and in consequence likely, after a short period of time, to pose an immediate danger to human health. It is important to note that both criteria have to be satisfied."

This would be like temperature controlled foods; dairy, fish etc.

I would assume that all other types of food, like chocolates, would be a best before type date.

shykins

jennifer.. they seemed to think it had to be eaten before may started

i have to say i couldnt see the sense in that .. thats why i thought i would ask here in case it was me being the dense one

jenniferpa

That option hadn't occurred to me! I still think they're wrong though. Chocolates should be fine past their sell-by date anyway. The thing that can go wrong with chocolate is more to do with improper storage (too hot) which results in that white "bloom" you sometimes see. Still safe to eat, though.

Jennifer

shelly

I'd take it to mean end of May 06. I eat solid chocolate well after its sell by date but if you have a box of assorted chocs e.g soft centres, then you might have to be careful of some of the centres as they might go a bit hard.

gregg1

the chocolate will be fine - I am lucky enough to live near one of the major chocolate factories (lucky me!) and in their employees' shop they sell chocolate past its sell by date - its still OK even when you get white bits on it.

shykins

thanks everyone for your advice... had it not been that we were going to use them for prizes for our PTA i would not of been so concerned

i have eaten chocolate well out of date and with the bloom on and as u say its fine but as i am sure u all know there is always someone who would notice it was out of date and yell at us for poisoning their kids or something

i shall now offer them for prizes and if anyone says thats out of date i will send them here to read your responses lol

thanks again