Check the Label for Expired Candy
April 10, 2008 by Heather R.
Filed under Chocolate, Chocolate Ideas, Chocolate Links, Chocolate News, Chocolate Pictures, Chocolate Products, Chocolate Trivia
The Consumerist had a great article yesterday on how to determine if M&M’s, Mars or Hershey candy is expired:
“For M&Ms and Mars candy, there’s usually a 10 digit code of numbers and letters, but you only need to worry about the first three. The first number is the last number in the year (8 means 2008, 7 means 2007, etc) and the next two numbers stand for the week of the year (so, a number like 804 would be the fourth week of 2008: February 2008).
“For Hershey’s candy, there’s a 2 character code for the month and year. The year is like the other code, with the number being the last number in the year, the second character is a letter that represents the month. A = January, B = February, and so on. So a code like 9A would mean that the candy expires January of 2009.”
I grabbed a bag of M&M’s to check this out, and as you can see in the picture above this one apparently expired in December 2007, which is lame because I bought it in February 2008. But as several commenters in the original post pointed out, though, expired candy likely won’t make you sick, it’ll just taste off. I haven’t noticed anything funky about it so I think I’ll live!
I never knew this! I always thought candy could sit forever. Like Twinkies.
Sucks that you bought a two-month old bag of candy, tho!
Thank you so much for this!
It’s getting better, but you have so many products like that that are just sold ’stale’ because no one cares to look or think about expiration dates for things like chocolate. Usually 2 months or so is no big deal ,but it’s sometimes much worse.
Beer is the same way. Have you ever had a beer that tasted not as good as you are used to? Beer is generally meant to be consumed within a year of bottling.
For M&Ms it is the week/year it was made. It expires the year after that.
You can check by getting a bag in the gift shop at the factory — they let you see them bring the bags right off the line.
If there is any expired in stores give to a dept mgr,They do check for expired Items as well as merchandisers,It could have been missed.
This comment is regarding product safety. I appreciate you telling how to check the freshness of a product, but with all the talk of SALMONELLA in peanuts today and the horrifying news that this company that supplied peanuts to so many companies that used their peanuts in their brands knew that the peanuts was contaminated and shipped them out anyway shows me that companies no longer put the public’s safety first anymore. It is apparent that the almighty dollar takes priority! I therefore will no longer buy brands like SNICKERS, M & M Peanut or any brands that contain peanuts. It is sad, but for my Children’s safety I have no other choice.
I am eating expired Jelly Bellys right now. I have some expired Skittles and some of those solid sugar ones shaped like different fruits. I had some M&M’s (not just month’s old, been in a machine for a year or more) that were all powdery and not right as well as some Reeces Pieces. One disappointing revalation was that the Hot Tamales were not at all good. No longer gooey in the middle, some break like hard candy in the mouth. Cinnamon flavor is lacking too. The others are fine though. A tough jelly bean here and there, but the flavor is fine.
You misread. The date of 2007 was the manufacture date. The candy has a “best by” time of 1-2 years.
Twinkies also have a similar date. However, like Twinkies, most candy will not negatively affect you- just taste bad.
Hi that’s not true — The full article at the Consumerist that I linked to says nothing about manufacture dates, only expirations, and seeing as there is no other date on the package of candy I’m not sure why you think it’s a manufacture date? Do you have a link or source you can provide? Also, I too stated at the bottom of the article that expired candy won’t make you sick, just taste off.
http://www.amarogue.com/foodcode.html
Here’s that link. Did some research on it my self. “That’s not true” is right, it’s a year from the manufacture date & the link I sent also shows how to read ‘em so it comes in VERY handy.
Now I’m gonna buy a huge 45 oz. bag of M&M’s that I was gonna trash due to expiration confusion. :] mmmmmm colorful peanuty goodness <3