It's been just over a week since trick-or-treating brought hauls of candy into homes nationwide – and if your family is still working on chewingaway the holiday, it's important to note how long your Halloween treats are safe to eat.
Experts maintain that consuming aging sweets depends on a product's expiration, storage technique and personal judgment calls. Still, it's helpful to know basic guidance about the shelf life of your favoritetreats at this time of yearto both ensure safety and reduce waste.
According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, between consumers and the food industry as a whole, Americans are throwing out about one-third of the nation'sfood –costing around$161 billion each year. The FDA largely attributes this to consumer uncertainty and confusion about the real meanings of labels that include "use before,""expires on" and"sell by."
Although there is no federal law requiring manufacturers to place an expiration date on food (with the exception of a few products),the FDA stresses that standardizingthe term“Best if Used By” could help address that confusion.
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Yes, candy and treats canexpire. But expiration date labelsdon't usually mark how long it's safe to eat something. Instead, they time the "peak quality" of a product.
"It's important to differentiate between 'Is it safe to eat?'and 'Is it going to taste good when I eat it?'"Joell Eifert,director of the Food Innovations Program at Virginia Tech, told USA TODAY.
"Consumers can have that misconception that 'Best By'dates on food packaging equates to food safety. So, when we're really talking about how long candy is good for, we're usually speaking in terms of how long it's going to taste good," Eifertsaid, noting that most food safety issues in nonperishable, commercially produced foods (like Halloween candy)come from contamination, not age.
Previous reports show that while expired candy can carry microbes that may make you sick, it's usually because something got into the food before the packaging was sealed. Serious health risks are rare.
To help guide the best post-holiday snacking, here's a look at some of this season's top treats and how long they last.
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When does chocolateexpire?
The life span of chocolate depends on the kind. Taste of Home reports that dark chocolate lasts the longest, up to twoyears. In comparison, "soft chocolates" like milk and white chocolateslast eightto 10 months.
Chocolates with filling (including peanut butter, nutsor caramel) typically have shorter shelf lives, ranging from sixto ninemonths.
Eifert adds that people might see a white coating on older chocolate called "bloom." Bloom is not harmfuland should not be confused with mold.
"If chocolate is held in poor conditions, under very wet conditions, you could get mold.But most of the time, even if that chocolate is held under cool, dry conditions, you're still going tosee this white coating. ... It could be either sugaror fat that is separating out from the chocolate and migrating to the top," she said. "It might change the texture of the chocolate a bit, but it shouldn't really affect the flavortoo much, and it's perfectly safe to eat."
Like most candy, chocolate is best stored in dry, dark and cool spaces, or at room temperature. It can also be frozen.
"Light and heat will oxidize and causes rancid flavors, and those are the things that can affect, especially chocolates and candies, the most [in storage]," she said. "The cooler the temperature, the longer those ingredients are going to staygood tasting. ... So you can certainly [store treats]in a pantry under cool, dry, dark conditions."
What about gummies?
According to FoodKeeper, a smartphone app developed by the U.S.Department of Agriculture to help consumers gauge whether their food is still good to eat, gummy snackscan have a similar timeline. If the gummies are sitting in the pantry, the USDA says theyshould be consumed within sixto ninemonths from the date of purchase.
How about candy corn, caramel and jelly beans?
The shelf life for soft candies often depends on whether the packaging has been opened. According to the National Confectioners Association, if already opened, both caramel and jellied candies can be kept at room temperature for sixto ninemonths. If unopened, theycan last up to one year.
Opened packages of candy corn can be stored at room temperature for threeto sixmonths. Unopened candy corn can last ninemonths.
When do hard candies go bad?
Further guidance by theNational Confectioners Associationsays that hard candiescan last up to oneyear when stored in a cool, dry location or at room temperature.
How long do baked goods last?
Of all the holiday treats, baked goods have some of the shortest shelf lives. FoodKeeper advises that commercial cakes and muffins be eaten threeto sevendays fromthe date of purchase if stored in the pantry, sevento 10 days if stored in the fridge and up to sixmonths if frozen.
Commercial cookies can last longer. According to FoodKeeper, if kept in the pantry, crispy cookies should be consumed within fourto sixmonths and soft cookies within twoto threemonths. If frozen at the time of purchase, cookies can last up to a year.
Eifert stresses that homemade goods are more perishable. "With products that are made at home, we really encourage those to be consumed within a week," she said.
