Can You Get Sick From Eating Expired Fruit Snacks?

Can you get sick from eating expired fruit snacks?

By TheWholePortion

Page last updated: 03/22/2023 | Next review date: 03/22/2025

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The Whole Portion is your go-to source for reliable nutrition, health, and wellness information. We are a team of passionate and experienced nutritionists, dietitians, and food science writers dedicated to providing high-quality content that helps you make informed decisions about your health. You can view our writers and review board here. Our articles are reviewed by PhD Food scientists and we only cite from Government or Scientific publications. We are owned and funded by PressPublish.

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In this brief guide, we are going to answer the question “can you get sick from eating expired fruit snacks” with an in-depth analysis of whether or not you can get sick from eating expired fruit snacks. Moreover, we are going to discuss tips to properly store fruit snacks.

So without much ado, let’s dive in and figure out more about it.

Can you get sick from eating expired fruit snacks?

When it comes to fruit snacks, you do not necessarily get sick from eating expired fruit snacks as long as they were stored appropriately.

Fruit snacks have a very high sugar content and sometimes preservatives are also added to them therefore they do not provide suitable media for microbes to grow.

Sugar is hygroscopic in nature which means that it has the ability to soak in water (it attracts the water molecules). Osmosis is the process in which water moves from a region of low solute concentration to a region of high solute concentration. The solute in this case is sugar.

So the water content of sugar itself is almost nil, so what happens is that when bacteria land on the surface of the sugar the process of osmosis sets in. Thus, the water starts to move from the body of the bacteria to the sugar, thereby dehydrating the bacteria and killing them and that is the very reason lying behind why you do not potentially get sick after eating expired fruit snacks.

So no doubt fruit snacks can still be eaten once they go past the date printed on them but you can feel a change in its texture and flavor so as long as you are okay with it, you can eat the expired fruit snacks, it won’t make you sick.

It is worth mentioning that instead of the “expiration date”, you will find a “best by” or “best before” date written on the packet of fruit snacks. The “best by” or “best before” date that is written on the pack of fruit snacks refers to the quality rather than safety so the fruit snacks don’t necessarily go bad immediately after the best before date.

This date refers to the time during which you can enjoy the peak quality and flavor of the fruit snacks but you can still eat fruit snacks that are past this date as long as they were stored properly.

Unopened fruit snacks last for about a year if they are stored properly.

It is worth mentioning that the figures mentioned above are the estimated shelf life of fruit snacks and fruit snacks can even last longer than this provided that they are stored properly.

But you should remember that if you spot a mold on your fruit snacks then it is better to discard them. Moreover, when in doubt, it is better to get rid of the fruit snacks because it is better to be safe than sorry.

So what you gotta do is to do the sensory evaluation of your fruit snacks and if your sensory evaluation gives you a green flag, you are good to eat the fruit snacks without the risk of getting sick.

You can read how to make delicious fruit snacks at home here.

Tips to properly store fruit snacks

Fruit snacks can be stored in a cool, dry, and dark place away from direct sunlight and heat. Therefore you can safely store the fruit snacks in a cool and dry corner of your pantry away from direct sunlight and heat.

Once you have opened the packet of fruit snacks, you should transfer the rest of the fruit snacks in an air-tight container or resealable plastic zipper bag. It is necessary to store the fruit snacks this way so that no air and moisture will find their way to the fruit snacks and degrade their quality.

You should close the lid of the container as soon as you are done getting out the number of fruit snacks that you need.

You should never store your fruit snacks in a humid environment.

Last but not least, you can even store the fruit snacks in the refrigerator in an air-tight container or jar or if you want to further prolong the shelf life of gummy bears then you can go ahead and store them in the plastic freezer bag in the freezer.

Conclusion

In this brief guide, we answered the question “can you get sick from eating expired fruit snacks” with an in-depth analysis of whether or not you can get sick from eating expired fruit snacks. Moreover, we discussed tips to properly store fruit snacks.