What happens If you eat expired Kit-Kat? (+3 Factors)

In this article, we will answer the question “What happens If you eat expired Kit-Kat?”, and how long can you eat chocolate after the expiration date?

What happens If you eat expired Kit-Kat?

Eating expired Kit-Kat won’t make you sick because chocolates are quite shelf-stable. But the quality of any chocolate including Kit-Kat would not be the same If It is months past its best-by date. Therefore, you can get rid of it for quality purposes or melt it to use in baking or syrups. The choice is yours.

You won’t notice any noticeable difference in the quality of a week-old Kit-Kat. But after about a month, the wafer in the Kit-Kat will lose its crisp. Much of the quality will be gone past one month of the best-by date especially If stored incorrectly. 

The sugar and fat bloom 

If stored correctly, safety is not an issue in the case of chocolates. However, there are two important things to observe. Old chocolate might develop a white or grey film over it. This can be either due to sugar bloom or fat bloom. 

If the film feels tacky upon touching, it is the fat bloom and It occurs when the cocoa butter accumulates over the surface of the chocolate. If the film feels dusty or powdery, It is the sugar bloom. 

Sugar bloom indicates the chocolate has undergone extreme temperature fluctuations during which It first melted, then cooled. This resulted in the formation of sugar crystals over the surface.

Any chocolate with fat or sugar bloom is not of the best quality but is generally regarded as safe to eat. However, It is not recommended to eat chocolate that exhibits a sugar bloom. It is because temperature fluctuations are what enable the bacteria to grow to unacceptable levels.

Why doesn’t chocolate go bad?

The moisture content of most chocolates is about  2% to 20% w/w. This does not present a very favorable environment for bacteria to grow. The chocolate might have undergone fat or sugar bloom, but food poisoning from bad chocolates hasn’t been observed.

How long can you eat chocolate after the expiration date?

The following table provides a rough estimate of the shelf-life of the chocolate past the best-by date. The following timelines are not drawn lines on the rock. This means you must judge with your senses If the chocolate is worth eating or not.

Brans usually provide more strict best-by time frames to evict themselves of any legal proceedings in case of food poisoning. 

This means the chocolate does not go bad immediately after the best-by date or on that specific date. Instead, you can eat chocolate weeks past the printed date without any food safety issues. 

This only applies If the storage conditions were ideal and the chocolate did not experience any extreme temperature fluctuations. The shelf-life of the chocolate depends upon the following factors.

• The milk and sugar content of the chocolate is an important factor in determining its shelf-life. Milk chocolate has more milk solids, thus, has a shorter shelf-life than dark chocolate with more cocoa solids.

• Whether or not It has additional ingredients like fruits or nuts. Fruits have a limited shelf-life and are the least stable ingredient in chocolate after milk solids.

• Last but not least, storage conditions affect the shelf-life of the chocolate. 

How to store chocolate to prevent spoilage?

Keep the chocolate away from moisture, high temperature, temperature fluctuations, or unwanted odors. The temperature fluctuations and humidity will crystallize the sugar resulting in sugar bloom. It ruins the silky texture of the chocolate.

Dark VS Milk and White chocolate 

As mentioned above, dark chocolate has a longer shelf-life than milk and white chocolate due to more cocoa and fewer milk solids. The following table provides an estimate of the best-befoe dates of on-shelf products.

Other FAQs about Chocolate that you may be interested in.

Can you eat baking chocolate?

What are the best American chocolate brands?

Which is the best bulk chocolate?

Conclusion

In this article, we answered the question “What happens If you eat expired Kit-Kat?”, and how long can you eat chocolate after the expiration date?

References