Can I eat chocolate one month past its expiration date?

I'm sure everyone has eaten chocolate. It is a very common food and a delicious snack. Because it tastes very mellow and delicious, many people like to eat chocolate. However, all food has a certain shelf life. If it is over the shelf life, some foods can be eaten, but some foods cannot be eaten. Can chocolate be eaten after it expires?

Chocolate can be divided into two categories: one is pure chocolate, and the other is compound chocolate made with cocoa butter substitutes (including refined oils, vegetable oils, etc.) instead of cocoa butter. If chocolate is stored for too long, just like oil becomes rancid, it will cause the peroxide value to increase. The peroxide value is an indicator that reflects the degree of oxidation of fats in food. Once it exceeds the standard, it will directly affect the quality of the food. Eating chocolate with excessive peroxide value can cause great harm to the human body, such as causing gastrointestinal discomfort, diarrhea and liver damage.

Generally speaking, the shelf life of ordinary chocolate is about one year, but the time will increase or decrease depending on the contents. Especially for chocolate products that contain fresh milk (or a high milk content) or hazelnuts, the high unsaturated acid content in them and the nuts are easily oxidized by air, which relatively shortens the shelf life of the chocolate. Therefore, fresh milk or nut chocolate must be stored carefully, otherwise it will easily deteriorate.

There is another common situation: some chocolates, although not expired, have white frost on the surface, which is mostly caused by improper storage. If the storage environment is humid, the sugar in the chocolate will be easily dissolved by the moisture on the surface, and sugar crystals will be left after the moisture evaporates.

If there are some white crystals on the surface of the chocolate, in this case, it is still edible. This is just caused by the evaporation of sugar on the surface of the chocolate. Although it is edible, the taste of the chocolate has been damaged and affected, and it does not cause any major harm to the human body when eaten.